Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future
by Dan68
Summary: Harry Potter, a normal boy in the eyes of Muggles, The-Boy-Who-Lived in the eyes of wizarding world. But what if he is more than just that? What if the boy has a history and lineage that can shake the very foundations of both wizarding and muggle world? Changed rating to M for safety.
1. Prologue

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Author's Notes: This is my first fan fiction story. So, please forgive any mistakes. Story will be quite slow in the beginning and slowly the plot thickens. I have planned for this fic to expand outside of the original cannon story length. So, you will find the plot to vary from cannon story from time to time.**

 **This is a Harry Potter fan fiction, but may contain historical characters (both fictional & non-fictional) all around the world. Some of the characters may differ from original timeline for the convenience of story. So, bear with me.**

 **I do not own any of the characters presented in this story. Most of them belong to JK Rowling.**

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 **Prologue**

 **1009** **th** **Crowns Meet (945AD)**

In an ancient city in Mesopotamia, under an ancient temple, six figures convened to discuss the latest events that have occurred in continent of Europe. The six figures, five men and one woman, all wearing ring mail and armour of the highest quality, showcasing their nobility, took out their swords and placed them on the table over one other in a spiral form resulting in a dim glow forming over the swords confirming their authenticity.

The people in the room took their respective seats leaving one seat empty. The same seat which is the reason for that day's meeting. The seat belongs to the **Late King of Magical Europe,** _ **Arthur Pendragon**_ **.**

An elderly looking man stepped forth from the shadows of the room and after chanting in some ancient language cleared his throat and said "Let the 1009th Crowns meet begin".

A brown skinned man in his early 40's who is the king of the continent of (present) South America started "So, it is true then. King Arthur really did die in his last battle against the army of demons that threatened to conquer Europa".

"Yes, that is true. The last battalion I sent to his aid returned yesterday confirming the news. The threat has been dealt with for the time being but losses were far too heavy to cause any sort of celebrations", said Bharatha Varsha, King of Magical India.

"That is disturbing news. With no King to reign over the kingdom, Magical Europe will soon fall into utter chaos and disrupt the peace", said the only woman of the group, Queen of Magical (present) Africa, Cleopatra Selene II.

"We can raid the kingdom and split it into equal parts and reign over them", suggested the Xī Hàn, the emperor of the Magical China.

"You know as well as I do that it is not possible. There is a reason the magical world is divided into seven kingdoms. We are forbidden from interfering in the internal matters of other kingdoms by the Magics of the Old", said King Bharat heatedly.

"No need to get upset King Bharat. It was just a suggestion", said Xī Hàn in a soothing voice.

"All is not as hopeless as it seems. From the information I gathered from my contacts in Europe, Arthur's family life stone in Gringotts wizarding bank of Europe has still not blackened. It is very dimly lit, but not completely blackened like other family life stones whose houses are extinct."

"What does that mean not blackened stone but a dimly lit one? As far as I know, Arthur did not have an heir. And all the branch families of house Pendragon has been decimated in the early stages of war and Arthur was the last of his line", said Queen Cleopatra.

An elderly man in his late 70's, who sat quietly till now rose from his seat and started pacing the room in deep thought. After several minutes, he came to his seat and started "I think I have an idea of what happened but at this point all I have is a mere speculation on my part".

"I don't know if any of you remember, but during the very early stages of war, King Arthur's wife was pregnant. But due some complications during child birth, she lost her ability to have another child. The child born was a deformed one and was sent off to a faraway land for treatment. But during the journey, the contingent carrying the child to the healer was attacked and only one soldier made it back to the kingdom to carry the news" Said the King Norton of (present) North America.

"So you mean to say that that child survived from that ambush and is now the last legitimate heir to the Most Ancient and Royal house of Pendragon and to the throne of Magical Europe", said Reis Vass, King of Magical (present) South America.

"Like I said before, all I have are mere speculations at the moment. Only time will tell us", he replied.

"I believe that is all we can hope at the moment" said King Bharat ending the Crown Meet.

 _ **Timeskip 46 years**_

 **1055** **th** **Crown Meet (991 AD)**

"It seems there is a new development in Europe", started Emperor Xī Hàn. "There seems to be a talk of new educational institution for magicals named **Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry** by four witches and wizards who earned name during the ending of last great-war in Magical Europe".

"Oh, I think there is soon going to be competition for your precious **Taxila University for Magical Education** , King Bharath", said Queen Cleopatra in a teasing voice.

Ignoring the Queen of Egypt, Bharat asked, "Who are the founders of the institute?"

"Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin", said Emperor Xī Hàn.

Upon hearing the names, King Bharat's eyes lit up in recognition. He said "I remember Godric Gryffindor. He visited Magical India 5 years ago. There is also an interesting matter about him."

"Oh, do share with us your Majesty", said Emperor Xī Hàn.

"When he visited my kingdom, he was also carrying a most interesting artifact with him. An artifact which I thought lost during the last great war of Europe", he said

"What is this artefact if may enquire", asked King Norton.

"I am not sure, but I think it is **Excalibur** , he is carrying on him during his visit", said King Bharat. He continued "I know it may sound dubious, but that sword he carried on him at the time emitted the same magical aura as mine does. True, it did not emit the magical aura as strong as mine or our swords, Hell, it did not even look the same as **Excalibur**. But I have this gut feeling about that sword. What does this mean King Norton?"

"I do not know what this means King Bharat. But I think it is clear that the last Royal blood line of the house of Pendragon has survived the calamities. Dormant and weak at the moment, Yes, but still alive and waiting for the suitable heir to take the throne of Magical Europe and restore the name of their house back to its former glory", said the old King, finishing the Crowns Meet.

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 **Now there's your chapter. That's it for now. I request all the readers to please read and leave me a review or a PM. Your suggestions make a world of difference to me. Thank you all**


	2. Beginning of the Future(Part 1)

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Characters belonging to Harry Potter book series are sole property of JK Rowling. Other character appearances are purely fictional.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Beginning of the Future(Part 1)**

 **October 27** **th** **1980**

An elderly man wearing a black coral tunic and a matching tussle hat is sitting at Hog's Head pub, interviewing a young lady in her mid 20's wearing heavy blanket like clothing for the position of Professor of Divination studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The person interviewing is none other than Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. After a quick interview of 10 minutes, he said, "I am sorry Miss Trelawney. I cannot accept your application for the professor post. Maybe I can recommend you to some of my friends who can use your talents".

When he was about to stand up, Trelawney went into a kind of trance and started saying

" _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"_

"I'm sorry, did I say something Headmaster", said Trelawney looking at the pale faced Dumbledore who looked like his blood has been just sucked out.

"No, Miss Trelawney, you are selected for the professor post at Hogwarts. I wish you all the very best for your job. I will see you at the start of term. Now, I will be taking my leave. Have a good day", said Dumbledore in a hurry, leaving Trelawney, not even bothering to wait for a reply.

Neither of them is aware of the young Death Eater lurking just outside of the door, listening to half of the prophecy before running to Dark Lord.

None of the persons at the scene know that the first step towards fulfilling the prophecy has already been taken.

 **October 31** **st** **1981**

It is a pleasant evening just like any other day in the village of Godric Hollow. Mr. Alex Taylor and his family consisting of his wife and two sons were having a normal family dinner. All of a sudden, there are loud bangs and blasting sounds in neighbor followed after a few moments by a loud wail of a woman along with a brief deathly green flash. Then everything is silent again.

 _ **Time skip 5 years**_

 **4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging (1986)**

A horse faced woman came rushing into the room and snatched away the toy from a kid with bright green eyes, who is playing with it making the kid crying. "Oh stop your acting you trouble causing demon child", shouted the woman and raised her hand to strike the kid. Suddenly she was plunged across the room and fell upside down on the floor. She managed to raise herself and came face to face with glowing deathly green eyes full of uncertainty and tears not understanding what just happened. But the woman across the room knows full well what happened **'First burst of accidental Magic'**.

A clocked man with black eyes, raven colored hair and brown skin stood under the shadows of a tree just on the other side of road, opposite to 4 Privet Drive observing the events occurring in the house. After a moment, he said to himself "and so it begins" and merged into the shadows of the tree.

 **The Dwarf kingdom of Amon Rûdh:**

Deep within the Grey Mountains which are located far north of the forbidden forest near Hogwarts, lays the grand citadel of **Hortorm** , capital of the Dwarf Kingdom of **Amon Rûdh**.

Inside the city, beyond all the forges lay a grand forge, larger than any other forge the Dwarfs has. There was a sudden flash of bright light, a sudden burst of magic that has not been seen in over a thousand years in the forge. Then there is a trinking sound of gear-wheels moving followed by huge fire under the forge.

Thegrod Lavastone, king of the Dwarf Kingdom of Amon Rûdh stood there with his mouth hanging open, along with Bornuid Chaosbuster, chief smith of kingdom.

"Heir to the throne of the ancient kingdom has been accepted by Magics of Old. We will have a new King to ascend the throne of magical Europa very soon. Soon the dwarves be called along with other magical races which be in self-imposed exile to answer the alliances of the old. Run the forges at full force Thefrod Lavastone. Time be upon us. We be having utmost a decade to prepare", said Skatmin Dimhood, Elder Dwarf of the kingdom.

"Well laddies, looks like we got our work cut out for the next decade or so. What are ya fools waiting for? The forges won't be working by themselves. Move it, move it….", Thedrod bellowed out to remaining dwarfs still standing there not knowing what to do.

 **Gringotts Royal Vault:**

A bright light shot out from the family life stone of the house of Pendragon, signifying that the most Ancient and Royal house of Pendragon has become active once again. In the deepest tunnels under Gringotts building, there was a creeking sound of 13 vaults opening for a short time and closing again, signalling financial accounts of those vaults has come out of stasis.

King Ragnork III gave a vicious smile showing his crooked teeth at the events unfolding in front of him. The Royal house of Pendragon is easily the single most powerful and wealthiest houses in all of Europe if not among the entire world. Activation of such house can only mean more business to goblins. But this information needs to be kept secret until such a time the young King is completely accepted by the Magics of the Old, lest the enemies came upon such sensitive information leading to potentially disastrous results. 'Yes, this information will be classified and will not be allowed to get outside until such a time as the Young King can claim the throne', was the last thought before he was disturbed by Gringotts London Branch Manager.

 **Department of Mystries(Hidden Compartment inside the office of Director of Department)**

Perhaps the most silent reaction to Harry's accidental burst of magic is from the Director of the Department of Mysteries, Director Croaker. He merely glanced at the brief burst of light that came from the hidden compartment, entered the compartment and saw at the tapestry, a name which was just dull brown for the last 1000 years now glowing with bright golden aura.

" _ **Hadrian James Pendragon-Potter,**_ I look forward to the day we meet your Highness", he spoke little more than a whisper and exited the room.

 **Azkaban:**

Rooted deep under the bowels of the very foundations of fortress/prison of Azkaban, there lays a long forgotten prison cell along with its inmate. The door has not been opened since the day it was last sealed by the last King of Magical Europa, Arthur Pendragon using his very life-force.

Inside the cell lays a form which is not human. With scales for skin, crooked teeth, and reptile eyes, the form can simply said to be an abomination. It opened it's eyes and started laughing a hateful smile and said "So the heir has come at last".

With that he got up from his resting place and cut his hand, bleeding profusely on floor. After a few moments, the ground on which the blood dropped started sizzling and 3 inhuman crooked figures rose from ground and kneeled in front of the larger abomination waiting for their orders.

"Go alert the dementors and my other minions. Tell them time is upon us to finally conquer the world. Tell them that an heir has been accepted by the Magics of the Old. Also instruct them to bring me at least 3 vials of the boy's blood right after he is 17 of age. Now go", he said before laughing his abysmal laugh.

'This time no one will be there to stop me Pendragon. This time, I will conquer the world and destroy everything you and your people held dearly to your heart', he thought before again continuing his abysmal laugh.

 **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:**

Deep within Hogwarts, in an unknown room, there lays a book which is enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw herself. Inside the book lay names and dates of each and every child along with details of their first burst of accidental magic. Today, the book has a new entry by the name of 'Hadrian James Pendragon-Potter'.

Blissfully unaware of the events happening around him, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is pacing in his office not knowing what to do with today's incident. He knew that the child will become powerful. That is the reason he bound the magic of the child, so that no one would be able to pick up on his accidental burst of Magic. But the result he got is totally unexpected. One of his trinkets which he used to monitor the child is now completely fried. Now, he has only one trinket which can be used to only detect the location of the child. That trinket is now almost useless as he already know the location of the child. Not knowing what else to do, he sat in his chair massaging his temples to reduce his rising headache.

The majestic phoenix which sat on its perch started trilling in a slow and soothing voice calming the aching nerves of the aging Headmaster.

"Thank you Fawkes, I shall leave this matter for now", said the aging professor.

* * *

 **I decided to split this chapter into two parts. First part is about the implications he has on the magical world. Second part will be about the start of his personal life.**

 **Thank you for your support. Constructive criticism is appreciated as always.**


	3. Beginning of the Future(Part 2)

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Characters belonging to Harry Potter book series are sole property of JK Rowling. Other character appearances are purely fictional.**

 **Chapter 1: Beginning of the Future(Part 2)**

 _ **Time skip 2 years**_

 **Little Whinging (1987)**

4 Privet Drive, a seemingly normal house with peaceful neighbourhood. Just like any other house, residents of the house too follow the almost same routine of husband going to office, wife taking care of house and children going to school and playing. And that is where the similarities end. Because, unlike the rest of neighbourhood, the residents of 4 Privet Drive have a wizard living among them. And due to his staying there, the occupants of the house have a more eventful day than the rest of neighbourhood. There are occasional shouts of " _you freak, get out of my sight_ ", by a whale of a man known as Vernon Dursley and a " _you freak of a child, clean properly and then do the dishes_ ", by a horse faced women who goes by the name Petunia Dursley, sister of Lily Potter ne Evans and lastly _"Hey freak for cousin, did you finish my homework? Good then, let's go to park for playing"_. This voice belongs to Dudley Dursley, the only son of Petunia and Vernon Dursley and what he meant by playing is a game known as ' _Harry chase'_ where Dudley and a his friends chase young Harry across the park and when he is caught, gets mobbed by them. So, No! 4 Privet Drive maybe a normal looking house to an outsider, but it anything but normal to an insider.

Today is the birthday of Dudley Dursley, which means presents for him and more chores for our young Harry. But what neither of them knows is that today is going to be a life changer for Harry. The incidents which are going to occur today will be the first steps in changing the entire wizarding world as we know it.

 _ **23**_ _ **rd**_ _ **June 1987 (around)10:30 AM**_

"Wake up cousin. I'm not going be late to visit zoo because of your freakishness. Wake up! Wake up!" shouted Dudley while jumping up and down on the steps above Harry's (cupboard) room. "I am already awake and making breakfast, you moron" said Harry, that last part under his breath.

After having breakfast, everyone started leaving for zoo by car. Just before entering the car, Vernon pulled Harry by his hair and said in a threatening tone to Harry "No freakishness at the zoo boy. Put one foot out of line and you will stay in (cupboard) room for next two weeks".

"Sure uncle Vernon", said Harry in a timid tone and got onto the car.

 _ **At Zoo**_

"Come on mother, quickly. I am so excited to learn all about muggles and this thing called technology" half-shouted, half-squeaked a 7 year old girl with bright blue eyes full of excitement. "Calm down Daphne. I can understand your excitement but the Zoo is just starting. So we have all day. No need to rush things" said her mother Rosmeria Greengrass. Both mother and daughter entered the zoo followed by a little less enthusiastic Cygnus Greengrass, Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass along with her youngest daughter Astoria Greengrass.

Harry along with Dursleys toured the zoo. The first animal Harry saw is a gorilla which oddly resembled his cousin Dudley according to him. After touring the rest of the zoo, Harry and co reached reptile domicile of zoo. There are various kinds of reptiles there all tucked safely behind a glass for visitor safety. Harry is fascinated by all the snakes present there, especially a Boa constrictor. Bored that the snake is not moving, Dudley banged on the glass and shouted "Move your lazy ass do something you stupid snake". Receiving no response from the Boa, the Dursleys moved onto next attraction. Becoming bored of his cousin's antics at describing various reptiles Harry said to Boa constrictor _§§_ _Sssorry for my cousin'sss anticsss. He doesn't have that good of mannersss_ _§§_ _._

Surprisingly, the snake replied _§§Do not worry ssspeaker. It isss normal for me to endure sssuch behaviour. Although I am sssurprisssed to find a ssspeaker. I mussst sssay I am honoured to sssspeak with you§§_ rising from its place and bowing to Harry.

Taken completely off guard by reply Harry blinked a few times and again spoke to the Boa _§§How can you underssstand Englisssh? And what do you mean by ssspeaker? §§_

 _§§It isss not Englisssh we are ssspeaking young ssspeaker. You are ssspeaking sssnake language. Anyone who can ssspeak our language, we call them ssspeaker. It isss a very rare ability in thisss part of world§§_ replied Boa.

 _§§How can I ssspeak a language without knowing that I can ssspeak it? It doesssn't make any sssense§§_

 _§§I do not know how you can ssspeak our language young ssspeaker. But I can sssay that I am delighted to ssspeak to you§§_ said Boa

 _§§Thank you. I feel the sssame. What about your family? Do you not ssspeak with them? §§_

 _§§No ssspeaker. I am bred here in the zoo. Ssso I do not know anything about my family§§ I_ and motioned him to see him a board placed on the side wall which has 'Bred in captivie'.

 _§§That isss sssad. I too do not know about my family. My aunt sssaysss they died in a car crasssh. But I do not believe them§§_

While Harry was having his little chitchat with Boa, Dudley saw that the snake rose from its position and rushed to see it pushing Harry on to the ground in the process.

Enraged by his cousin's actions, Harry released an accidental burst of magic which resulted in all the glasses and windows blowing apart releasing all the reptiles in there causing complete chaos in the reptile conclave.

 _ **Few minutes earlier**_

Daphne Greengrass entered the reptile conclave while her parents were still at some stall buying their youngest daughter some snacks. There she was looking at an Egyptian Asp when she suddenly heard someone hissing. Creeped out of her life, she frantically looked around her and finally spotted a boy roughly of her age. There he stood hissing at a Boa constrictor like he talking to the Boa and the really surprising thing is that the Boa looked like replying to him. She saw the Boa rise from its resting place and bow to him. Then he continued hissing at the snake for a while. Then some chubby looking boy came rushing to the Boa constrictor, pushing the earlier hissing boy into ground. What happened next caught her totally unexpected. The fallen boy released an accidental burst of Magic breaking all the glass and windows in the floor, releasing all the reptiles which were behind the glass.

She fell on her back from the force and looking around frantically for her parents when she felt something crawl on her hand and continued toward her stomach. On her stomach is the Egyptian Asp she was looking earlier. Seeing the snake so close to her, Daphne let out a shriek.

 _ **Present**_

Harry fell down on his back and watched as the floor is filled with chaos. Within the chaos, he heard a high-pitched shriek and looked around find the source. After a few moments he found the source to be a young girl probably same as his age and coiled around her waist is an Egyptian Asp, ready to strike the girl.

Harry ran towards the girl and said to snake _§§Ssstop…..do not harm her§§_

The snake turned around and stared at Harry for a few moments then nodded its head and said _§§Asss you wisssh ssspeaker. And thank you for freeing usss§§_

 _§§No problem. Jussst leave the girl alone and essscape from here§§_ said Harry.

The snake nodded its head again, uncoiled from the girl and left the room along with its brethren.

Harry slowly approached the girl, who still looked to be in complete state of shock and shook her a few times. She came out of her shocked state and looked at him clearly for the first time. The most striking feature of the boy is his deathly green eyes. She felt herself being drawn into his eyes. She came back to reality when the boy shook her again.

"Excuse me Miss, are you alright?" asked Harry

She suddenly came back to reality and understood where she is and what just happened. She looked at the boy who just saved her life, who is in middle of asking her again if she is alright. Ignoring the question, she abruptly flung herself at him, hugging him for her dear life and started shaking.

Harry stiffed at the sudden body contact and not knowing what to do, he started rubbing on her back soothingly started saying "Everything is alright. No one's going to hurt you" smoothly in her ear. It took several minutes to calm her down. But even then, Daphne clung to Harry's hand like her life depended on it. After Daphne calmed down sufficiently, Harry asked her name to which she replied "Daphne" in a voice little more than whisper. Slowly the couple made it outside the building amidst the still reigning chaos. After walking for several minutes, the couple found an empty bench and sat down with Daphne still clutching Harry's hand. They sat still for several minutes causing an silence between them.

Breaking the silence, Harry asked her" How are you feeling Daphne?"

"I am alright now. Thank you for saving me" replied Daphne. Then she realised that she still has Harry's hand with her, she squeaked and left his hand, blushing profusely leading to another few minutes of awkward silence. Then Daphne suddenly said "That is a very powerful burst of Magic. Your parents must be very proud of you. And what are doing with that snake. All I heard is a lot of hissing".

"I don't have parents. I live with my relatives and what do you mean by Magic. Do you mean to tell me that Magic is real?" asked Harry ignoring her last question.

"Of course Magic is real. Why do you think all those glasses and windows were blasted? It is because you released an accidental burst of Magic. Didn't your relatives tell you anything about it?" replied Daphne.

Before Harry can reply to her, an officer wearing law enforcement uniform came to them and said" What are you kids doing here. The zoo is going to be closed in a few minutes. Better get going". Harry saw the face of officer and could swear something familiar about him but could not quite put his finger on it. The officer then turned to Daphne and asked "Is your name Daphne Greengrass?"

"Yes sir that is my name", said the girl.

"Oh thank god I found you. Your parents were going ballistic in the reception over your missing. Best come with me Miss Greengrass, we don't want to keep your parents waiting now do we", he said. With that he turned in the direction he came before.

Daphne turned to Harry and said "Come with me. I will introduce you to my parents and we can drop you at your house".

"No Daphne, you go on. I am sure my relatives are already at parking, waiting for me. If they found out that I was out of the building all this time and did not come to them, they will skin me alive"

"What do you mean they will skin you alive? You just saved my life. You should be rewarded for that. My parents will talk to your relatives and if they still choose to punish you, then you can come with me and my parents and live with us. I am sure mother will be ecstatic after listening to what you did" said Daphne in a slightly heated tone.

Shaking his head, Harry said "Don't worry about me Daphne. As for me getting reward, saving a beautiful girl such as you is rewarding itself" cheekily.

Daphne's cheeks caught slight colour hearing his reply and was about to reply when the officer suddenly said "What the girl said is true kid. Let us meet her parents first and then I shall personally escort you to your relatives. That way they cannot punish you for making them wait. Deal?"

Realising he lost the argument, Harry just nodded and started following the officer with Daphne along with him. They reached the reception where several parents/kids were looking around for their missing parents/kids. They reached a desk and the officer spoke with the lady at the desk for several minutes, then turned back to Daphne and said "Looks like your parents are on the other side of the building. This officer here will escort you to them and I will escort the kid to their relatives."

Daphne seemed visibly deflated on hearing that. Hearing what the officer said, Harry turned to Daphne and said "Looks like this is where we depart. I hope we will meet again sometime" and Harry gave her his hand.

Daphne took his hand and pulled him into a hug and gave him a kiss on his cheek startling him and said "I am sure we will meet again at Hogwarts Harry. And before you ask, don't worry, I won't say anyone about your ability to speak to snakes. It shall be our little secret" whispering the last sentence in his ear. With that she turned to new officer who will escort her to her parents leaving a rather stunned Harry behind.

The earlier officer turned towards Harry and shook him, getting him out of his daze and beckoned to follow him. After walking for a few minutes in silence, the officer spoke to Harry in a cool voice "You will see her again you know. I am sure both of you will be admitted to Hogwarts" stunning Harry who faltered in his step. The officer straightened him and gave him a smile and said "Don't worry. I too know about Magic and Magical world".

Before Harry could ask any question about how he knew about Magic, they reached the parking which was almost empty and they found that the Dursleys left him in the zoo. Not knowing what to do, Harry ran to the remaining cars checking and again to the entrance in a vain hope of finding them still at parking. Knowing they left him, Harry slowly sauntered to the officer and said in a low voice "Thank you for escorting me till here officer. I am sure you have other important works to do. I will find my way from here" and turned to leave Zoo premises.

As Harry took about two steps, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around to see who the hand belongs to, Harry say the officer looking at him with a kind smile on his face. He knelt down and came at eye level to Harry and said "Kid, I told you, I would leave you with your relatives and I would like to keep my word". With that he beckoned Harry to follow him and started to move towards a secluded area in parking. Harry had to almost run in order to fall in line with the officer. When he was near enough, he said to the officer "But officer, you don't have to take any trouble because of me. I can find my way to my relatives. I am sure you have several other duties in zoo because of the chaos and I don't want to hold you up from performing your duties".

After reaching a secluded spot in parking just outside the building, the officer turned towards Harry and with a serious face he said "Look kid, I am going to tell you something and I want you to promise me not to reveal it to anyone". Observing the shift in the seriousness of the situation, Harry slowly nodded his head rather nervously. Sensing his nervousness, the officer gave another kind smile to him and said "Don't worry kid. You are not in any kind of trouble. It's just that if you say anything to muggles about what I am about to say and do, I will be in a lot of trouble". After hearing him, Harry gained a little more confidence and said" Sure officer, I will not reveal what you are about to say and do to anyone. But I have a question. What is meant by muggle?"

"Well since you promised, I will answer any question you have if I can answer them", looking at the puzzled face of Harry, the officer chuckled and said "The wizarding world have many secrets Harry. We will discuss about that at a different time. Now coming to your first question, simply put, muggles are non-magic folk. They are people who cannot perform Magic".

"Now, let us be off. Take my hand and hold it tight and do not leave it under any circumstances" with that he held out his hand for Harry to grab hold.

As soon as Harry grabbed his hand, he got an impression of a tight squeezing sensation at his navel and felt like his entire body is being congested through a small tube. After a few moments he felt land under his feet. His entire world is still spinning from sensation. After a few moments, Harry gained control of his senses and looked around where he is. The area looked familiar but could not quite put his hand on it. He saw a few bushes and started walking towards it. As soon as he crossed the bushes, he stopped in his tracks. In front is the house of his relatives, 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging. Harry felt someone stand beside him and looked beside him to find the earlier officer standing beside him. Instead of wearing the officer uniform he has a full length body robe covering him from head to top.

Seeing the gobsmacked expression on Harry's face, he chuckled and said "I must say Harry, you are doing very well. Most of the people who apparate for the first time empty their stomach. Congratulations".

Still having problem with forming coherent words, Harry blurted out "What the….How is that… What just happened? How am I here? I was just at the zoo and next moment I'm at Privet Drive".

"What you just experienced Harry is called apparition. It is a form of magical transportation. You gather your magic inside your body and then picture where you want to go then imagine your magic taking you there and voilaa… you just apparated".

Harry nodded his head, soaking the information. Suddenly he got a doubt and turned to the officer and with narrowed eyes, he said, "You said you need to know where to go. Then how do you know that you should come here? How did you know that I live here? "

Startled by the kid's question, the officer gave a sigh and said "Don't be angry with me and listen to what I say completely before reaching your conclusion. Ok?" Seeing Harry nod, he began "First of all, I am not a real law enforcement officer. My name is Raj Choudary. I work in Magical Indian embassy at London. I keep an eye on you from time to time Harry and I swear that I have no malevolent intention behind it. I do it for old times sake. Your mother Harry, was a very dear friend of mine. When I was a kid, Lily and I used to be neighbourhood friends. Me, Lily along with Severus Snape who is now working as Potions Master at Hogwarts, were best of friends. Until we were eleven of age, we used to play every day and even do homeworks together occasionally. Then your mother and Severus got their Hogwarts letter and I got my Taxila letter. So we were separated for a brief amount of time. Almost after eight years we met again and then your mother helped me with something for which I will be indebted to her for the rest of my life. If she was still alive, you will probably have called me uncle. You can still call me uncle now if you want to."

Harry didn't know what to say. The man opposite to him seemed to be telling the truth but he also felt like he is hiding something from him. Harry did not understand what to do. To feel happy that there is someone in this world who cares for him, or to feel angry that this man stood beside and watched while his relatives abused him. Finally making up his mind, Harry asked in an even tone" If my mother was such a good friend of yours, then why did you not come to get me? Why did you stay behind and watch while my relatives abused me? Do you know how many times I tried to run away from them instead of living here? Did you know that it was just last year I learn that my name Harry. Till then I thought that my name is 'freak'. After learning that do you know how much I cried, how much I wished there is someone out there who would care for me? Why did you leave me? Why? Why…Why…."said Harry, his last sentence in almost a coarse tone from controlling his burst.

"I am sorry Harry. I really am. I tried everything short of publishing in paper that you are missing. I searched high and low in Magical England and not finding you there I started searching in muggle England starting with your relatives. But your relatives proved to be rather elusive and it took me almost 5 years after you suddenly disappeared from wizarding world. Even finding you is nothing short of miracle. I got information that your mother's sister lives in this area but could not get the address. I was just watching the houses looking around for….well you, and suddenly there is a large burst of accidental Magic. When I found you, I couldn't even get anywhere near the house. I tried to interact with you. But none of them worked. Even today, if it wasn't for the life and death situation at that reptile conclave in zoo, I doubt I would have been able to speak with you. Even now, while I am talking to you, there is a strong compelling charm to force me away from you. If it isn't for my occlumency training, I would have left you long ago." Said Raj in a tone filled with sadness.

Harry looked at the man, seemingly contemplating his reasons. Then he raised his head abruptly and said "Now I remember where I saw you earlier. You were the guy who shouted and scared Dudley and his friends whenever his friends were picking up on me".

"Oh yes, that is me. I could not come anywhere near you. So I had to resort to shouting in order to attract crowd to scatter your bullies"

Confused by the answer, Harry asked" You are standing beside me right now. So, why could not you come near me then? What changed between now and then?"

"Didn't you find it curious as to why there were so many people running around wearing some weird face masks? Why you or your little girl friend didn't bump into anyone? Why the entire zoo is closed even though reptile conclave is in a separate building? The reason for people with face masks is because right next to the reptile conclave, there is a storage room with a batch of carbon monoxide cylinders illegally and because of your Magical burst, some of them started leaking". Seeing the startled expression of Harry's face, Raj smiled reassuringly and said" Don't worry. Before it caused any harm, I casted a bubble head charm on the gas cylinders and alerted the authorities. When you started to leave the building, I cast a Muggle Notice-me-not charm on you and your little girlfriend. That is why no one noticed you both till I came to get you".

"Thank you for saving me and _Daphne is not my girlfriend. She is just my friend and we just met"_ , said Harry almost shouting the last sentence with a slight colour of pink adorning his cheeks. "So, you think the charms or wards or whatever that is placed on me are gone now? So, now can you take me away from my Uncle and Aunt?" asked Harry with little hope in his eyes.

Seeing the hopeful look on Harry's face, Raj shook his head negatively and said" Sorry Harry, but like I said earlier, even now I can feel the compelling charm trying to get me away from you. But I think the blood wards and the protection it provides you seems to be relaxed a bit around me but the other charms are working all the same. I cannot still enter your house nor can I take you away from here". Seeing the downed expression on his face, Raj said" All is not as bad as you think Harry. Now I will be able to come near you and I won't let anyone bully you outside. You just need to be careful around your Uncle and Aunt".

With a resigned look on his face, Harry asked about the wards placed on his relatives house.

"I think the charm is placed on you and that house you live in. It looks like a mixture of intent based blood ward and a modified form of fidelious charm", said Raj

Seeing the confused look on Harry, he said" It is a very large and complex explanation Harry. But to put it short, a blood ward is a protection placed on a person, object or a place and is keyed to the person whose blood is used during the blood ward ritual. Only that person and others allowed by him/her will be allowed inside the blood ward. The fidelius charm is a type of hiding charm which is cast on places like houses or retreats. When a place is under a fidelius charm, no one other than the secret keeper will know where the place is. If you want to enter a place under fidelius charm you have to be taken there by the secret keeper him/herself or you need a specially charmed piece of paper with its address on it. Without it, you can walk just in front the house and never know that it is there. But the one placed on your relatives house seems to be different because I know that that is the house in which you live. May be it has some sort of Wizard repelling charm or something I'm not sure."

Harry nodded his head, listening to each and every bit of information Raj is saying.

After finishing his little lecture about blood wards and fidelius charm, Raj turned to Harry and said "I am really sorry Harry. Even though I can speak with you now, I doubt very much that I can discuss this issue with other people. But nonetheless, I still ask for your forgiveness. I will do anything you ask of me to do if it is in my power" in a sincere tone.

"I will accept you apology under one condition Uncle Raj. Teach me everything you know about the wizarding world. I want to be prepared by the time I enter the wizarding world. I want to learn spells or charms or whatever it is that wizards and witches do. Will you teach me?" asked Harry, his voice full of hope.

Smiling softly at his request Raj said "Alright Harry, since you request is genuine and one which is with in my power, I shall teach you everything I am permitted to teach under these wards and charms that surround you. Meet me at this spot on three days from now at five in the morning since at that time none of your relatives will be awake".

Harry quickly hugged his uncle tightly with tears flowing from his eyes. Raj hugged him back, his eyes full of happiness. Stepping back from his uncle, Harry said" Thank you uncle. Thank you very much. I will be here on time and will give my 100% in learning what you teach me".

"I am sure you will kiddo". Glancing at his watch he said" I need to be going Harry. It is already very late". With that he stepped back from Harry, readying himself for apparition. Just before he apparated, he turned to Harry with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he said "Oh Harry, I almost forgot, _§§Take care Harry. I will sssee you sssoon§§_ " and with that he apparated away leaving a gobsmacked Harry behind.

* * *

 **Now there's your chapter. That's it for now. I request all the readers to please read and leave me a review or a PM. Your suggestions make a world of difference to me. Thank you all**


	4. Preparations and Revelations

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Characters belonging to Harry Potter book series are sole property of JK Rowling. Other character appearances are purely fictional.**

* * *

 **Previously**

 _Just before he apparated, he turned to Harry with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he said "Oh Harry, I almost forgot,_ _§§Take care Harry. I will sssee you sssoon§§" and with that he apparated away leaving a gobsmacked Harry behind._

* * *

 **Chapter 2 : Preparations and Revelations**

Harry stood there blinking for a few seconds before a small smile made its way to his face. Smiling softly at the antics of his newly discovered uncle Harry made his way to his relative's house. When he was about to cross the road he remembered that his relatives are still probably on the way and he still have around two hours of time before they come home. With that, Harry started to park to play peacefully with his cousin out of picture for the time being.

It was about three hours later that Harry made his way to his relative's house. As soon as he opened the front door his Aunt is upon him demanding him where he was and what he was doing till now. Harry smoothly replied "You left me at the zoo Aunt Petunia. I searched the entire zoo for you. Not finding you there I went to reception area and waited there hoping you would 'remember' that you forgot me at the zoo. As for how got here, a law enforcement officer at the zoo took pity on me and dropped me here. He wanted to come inside the house and talk to you as to why you left me behind but I convinced him that it was not your fault and that Dudley has a medical emergency, and so you had to leave me behind".

Enraged by his answer Petunia slapped him in his face and said "How dare you say my Duddlykins has some disease. It is you who has the disease of your freakishness". With that she dragged him to his room (cupboard) and slammed the door and shouted from the outside "For your lies, No food for you today".

Inside his room, sitting on his makeshift bed, Harry rubbed his cheek where his Aunt hit him and thought 'Well, that went better than I thought'. With that he laid his back on his bed and started thinking about the events that has occurred that day. His thoughts drifted to his new found ability to speak to snakes and from there to his newly discovered uncle and his revelation about Magical world and about his mother and the wards placed on this house. Then his thoughts shifted to the blonde haired blue eyed girl that he rescued and what a girl she is. He thought about the promise they both made to meet again at Hogwarts. When he thought about the kiss she gave him, his cheeks gained little colour. With that last thought, he drifted to sleep, his mind full of anticipation about what his uncle is going to teach him three days from now.

The next three days are some of the most slowly moving days in our young Harry's entire life and his mind are a whirlwind of thoughts. There were questions like what his uncle will teach him? How he will perform? And most importantly, will his uncle actually show up and keep his promise? Harry squashed that last thought though. He mostly kept to himself during day time other than his usual daily chores around the house. Finally, one day left before the day of their appointed meeting and Harry is full of excitement. Not even his Uncle's glares and Aunt's berating cannot dampen his mood.

 _ **26**_ _ **th**_ _ **June, 1987**_

Finally, the day has come and Harry is awake still half-an-hour to the actual appointed time of meet. Harry changed his clothes and slowly made his way out of the house, taking care not to cause any sound while closing the front door. He made his way across the road to the place where they are supposed to meet and started waiting for his uncle to make true of his promise.

 _§§I had a feeling I would ssseee you earlier than we agreed to meet§§_ said a voice, creeping the hell out of boy causing him to yelp in surprise.

Harry turned to find the smiling face of his uncle. Dusting himself, Harry scowled at his uncle and said "That is not funny uncle" who is still smiling at his obviously frightened (honorary) nephew.

"Oh but it is. Seeing your face is well worth of getting up this early in the morning", said a still smiling Raj choudary.

"I will get you for that"

"I'm sure you will. Now let's get on with your education. First-of-all, we need to create a schedule for us to follow. I will not be able to teach you every day since I still have work to do at embassy. So you will have to do a lot of self-study. Is that alright with you Harry?" said his uncle.

"I don't mind self-studying uncle. All I know today, I had to teaching myself. So it is not a new thing to me".

"What do you mean you had to teach yourself? What about the teachers at your school? Didn't they teach you anything?" asked Raj hotly.

"At my first school they taught me like the rest of the students. Then they gave me an IQ test. After I got the results they called my Uncle and Aunt and told them that I have a high IQ and recommended me for advanced studies. My Aunt and Uncle quietly excused themselves along with me and locked me up in my cupboard for the next two weeks and fed me the left over scrapes. After that they transferred me to my present school whose Headmaster is my Uncle's golf buddy. So, they punish me there even though I did not do anything wrong by sending me out of the class. So I had to learn everything from the books in library and sometimes by sneaking into classes when the teacher is not watching", said Harry.

By the time Harry is finished Raj is almost red with anger. If it weren't for the wards placed around the house he would have ran up to the house and hexed the hell out of his relatives. After a few minutes of cooling down, Raj turned to Harry and said "Don't worry Harry. Now that I am here you don't have to put up with these maniacs alone any more. If I have my with them, you won't have to deal with them for any longer strictly necessary". Harry hugged his uncle tightly and started shaking and between hic-up's he said "Thank you uncle. That means a lot to me uncle. Thank you so much".

Raj hugged him back and rubbing the back of his head he said "It's ok Harry. Now let us get on with your Wizarding world education" and with that he beckoned Harry to follow him. Harry followed his uncle to a secluded clearing in the park which is surrounded by bushes. On reaching the place Raj took out his wand and waved it in random directions chanting some words which Harry could not make heads or tails with. He completed his chanting within a few seconds and started to unpack his bag. He took a few sticks and canvasses clothing and started spreading it around and then pointed his wand at the tent. The canvass clothing and sticks started arranging themselves and after a few minutes a small tent is made in the clearing. Raj turned to an obviously stunned Harry and said "This is where we will be continuing your studies Harry. I cast a Wizard and Muggle Notice-me-not charms around this clearing, and this tent is charmed so that any small scale magic performed inside this tent will not be picked up by the Ministry of Magic. There is a rule in Wizarding world, at least in Wizarding Europe, that a child under the age of 17 should not perform Magic outside his/her school or unless you are under life threatening situations. It is known as 'Reasonable restriction of Underage Sorcery'. Also, even if you are of age, you should not perform Magic in front of Muggles unless you are in a life-threatening situation. This rule is the same for the entire Wizarding world. It is called the 'International statute of secrecy' which officially came into effect in 1692. We will continue about all those things and a lot more during our time together. Now let us continue". And with that Raj entered the tent and beckoned Harry to follow.

Raj felt Harry enter and turned around, only to find a slack-jawed Harry looking around in wonder. He chuckled at Harry's expression and said "Don't you love the wonders of Magic. This is a magically enchanted tent. The inside of this tent is magically expanded using space-expansion charms. You will learn all these things at Hogwarts. I will cover all the basics about Wizarding world, things such as etiquittes, culture of different Wizarding communities, traditions, history and all that other stuff. Before we begin, I want to tell you something important". Harry nodded signalling him to continue.

"I want to tell you your real name Harry. The name you are being called right now is just a sort of nick name and not your real name. Every child of a Most Ancient and Noble house is given a name based on his/her time of birth and the placement of planets and several other things. The important thing is that ' _Names have power Harry'._ And your given name, which you will be known throughout the world, is **'Hadrian James Potter'**.Never let anyone call you by anything other than your given name without your express permission. Your name has a power **'Hadrian James Potter'**. You are the Lord apparent to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Calling you by any name other than your given name is considered an insult on your entire house and a severe offence punishable by family blood feud. We will discuss about blood feuds and ancient houses later but the important thing is never let anyone call you by any other name".

"Wow...I never thought I would be someone important, certainly not a lord thingy" said Harry still sinking the information given to him then asked "What is your real name then? And which house do you belong to?"

"My real name is Raja Mahindra Choudary, second in line to the Lordship of the Most Ancient and Noble house of Choudary and as you know I'm from India. Now that that is out of way, let us continue with your studies. What would you like to learn about first about?"

"If you don't mind I want to know more about my parents. How did they die and what were they like when they were alive? Do you mind?" asked Harry his voice with little hope.

"Of course Harry. But are you sure you want to learn about how they died? Sure I will say about them when they were alive but I'm not sure you are ready to learn about their deaths yet".

"But I want to learn about them uncle. I want to know what they stood and fought for. And most importantly, I want to know if my last seven years of suffering is worthy of their sacrifice and that if I can ever live up to name" said Harry vehemently.

"Never question their love for you Harry. You are the most precious thing in the entire world to them. They would gladly give anything away just to have a few more moments with you if they can. So, never ever question their love for you Harry" said Raj in an intense tone full of grief and emotion. "Alright, since you seem so adamant knowing about your parents I shall comply with your request".

"By the time your parents graduated from Hogwarts, a war was already going on between the light and dark factions of Wizarding Britain. The dark faction led by the Dark Lord Voldemort wanted to gain control over the entire Wizarding world, promoting their pureblood propaganda. The other group was led by Albus Dumbledore. Two years after graduation your parents had you and they were very happy about that Harry. Your mother was especially ecstatic about the news. But for reasons unknown, eight months after your birth, the Dark Lord has taken a special interest in your parents. Fearing the Dark Lord for your life, your parents went under the fidelius charm. Then something happened and the Dark Lord gained access to your house, then, proceeded to attack your parents. Just before he cast the killing curse on you, something happened and the killing curse rebound and hit the Dark Lord finishing him and ending the war. That is how you gained the scar on your head Harry. That is no ordinary scar on your forehead. That is the reason you are so famous not just in Wizarding Britain but the entire Wizarding world. You are the only person in the known existence who is known to have survived the killing curse. That scar is the proof that you have been touched by the most evil form of magic and that you are protected by the most benevolent of magics against it"

"The Dark Lord came after me and my parents died protecting me and I'm famous in a world I don't know existed till yesterday. Talk about irony. I wish I could remember them uncle. Remember them holding me and loving me" said a teary eyed Harry.

"I'm sure they feel the same way Harry"

Changing the topic "Is there anything else you want to know about?" asked Raj

"How did I survive the killing curse uncle?" asked Harry.

"I don't know Harry. In fact no one really knows how you survived, just that you survived and that the Dark Lord perished in the process. But I think your mother performed some sort of protection ritual on you but that is just a speculation on my part" Said Raj.

"But how did the Dark Lord gain access to my parents hiding place? I thought only the secret keeper can let you enter the house."

"That's the thing Harry. I don't know what happened. The official story is that your Godfather, Sirius Orion Black is the secret keeper and that he betrayed your parents and led the Dark Lord to your parents and then proceeded to kill one of his friends Peter Pettigrew, who supposedly went after Sirius after discovering his betrayal, in the process getting himself blown-up. After that, the aurors caught Black and threw in Azkaban."

"But you don't believe that story?" asked Harry a little peeved by the information.

"I don't know what to believe Harry. I met Black only a few times, but I can tell you that he is no betrayer. The way he spoke with James and Lily and the way he played with you, the happiness I found in his eyes when he was playing with you, the antics he did to make you laugh, those things cannot be faked Harry. After he was incarcerated , I tried to look up for his case files but it was all so hushed up by the minister that he threatened me to complain to my Ministry of Magic and demand my transfer. So no, I don't believe that story" Said Raj.

"Now, enough of these sober stories. When you come of age and take the Lordship of your house, you will have the power to re-open the case and find the truth yourself. Now coming to your parents, I'm afraid I don't know much about your father. The only thing I can tell you about him is that he loved pranks, flying and very easy to anger. In fact you look just like him other that your high cheek bone and your eyes. You have your Mother's eyes. Emerald green and is very scary to watch when she is angry. I met him for the first time just the day before their wedding. After that I met him only a few times along with you and your mother. But you're Mother on the hand I can tell you about her for days on. Your mother is one of a kind, Harry. She is as much kind as she is stubborn. Once she fixates on something she can be as stubborn as a rock. Never had I ever seen such a stubborn woman. But let me tell you something Harry, she has a very hot temper. Once you fall victim to her temper you will never see her in the same light ever again. One such situation is where she…" And so on they continued for the next few hours. It was almost half past eight when either of them got up from their conversation and started to get ready to leave.

Just before they left Raj turned to Harry and said "Oh Harry, I almost forgot. I have a theory to test. I want to see if outside Magic will work inside your relative's house. Stand here and don't move". With that he walked over to Harry, took out his wand and started weaving it around him chanting some words. "I cast a Muggle Notice-me-not charm on you. Now I want you to go inside your house, do something to get the attention of your relatives like make some sound in kitchen or something. Do not speak to them. Just stay silent the entire time. Come to me after 5 minutes Ok?" said Raj. Harry nodded to what Raj said and left the tent.

After 5 minutes Harry came running to Raj who is waiting for him just outside the tent and with a bright smile he said "It worked uncle. I threw a steel plate and glass on the floor. My aunt came running to kitchen, looked around, then placed the plate and glass back in their places and left without noticing me standing just beside the entrance to kitchen."

"Good then, from now on you will not be going to your school anymore. I will meet you here at 10AM and we will continue your studies. And before you ask, I will take care of your absence at your school. Now, off you go and make sure you don't attract attention to you. That charm I placed on you will work for around at least an hour. So keep your head low and don't do anything to get your relative's attention towards you. I will leave this tent here and you can return here at any time you want".

With that both of them went their separate ways for the time being. Harry being the ever enthusiastic boy he is, is back at their meeting place at half-past nine o'clock and went inside the tent and started exploring the inside of the tent. After a few minutes of exploring he found that the tent is larger than he first anticipated. It has 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, and 2 bathrooms along with hall/sitting area. There are some books placed on a shelf in hall. One of the books named 'Hogwarts: A History' caught his attention. He took the book and started reading while waiting for his uncle to show up. A few minutes after 10 Harry heard a rustling sound and looked around finding nothing out of ordinary, he went back to reading his book.

Just as Harry started reading about the houses of Hogwarts he heard _§§I think you will be placed in housssse Gryffindor§§_ making the boy shriek in surprise. Harry looked around found only to find his uncle shimmering to appearance before him out of nowhere.

"Wow uncle. That is so cool. How did you do that? I didn't even see you coming into the tent. How long have you been standing there? Can you teach me that? Can you…." Harry continued until Raj lifted his hand indicating him to stop and said "Breathe Harry. What you saw is a disillusionment spell. It is used to make the person who the spell is cast up to become invisible for a few minutes. I can maintain it for 10 mins. Mine is still not perfect. If you had observed keenly earlier, you would have seen a slight disturbance at the edges of my figure. Only a Master Sorcerer can cast the spell without any disturbances. If you have an invisibility cloak, using it will be a better option. If I recall, your dad used to have an invisibility cloak. I think it will be inside one of your family vaults at Gringotts Wizarding Bank". Harry nodded smiling sheepishly at his uncle.

"Now that you are here, let us get started with our first agenda of the day. Did you have your breakfast Harry?" Seeing his trepidation, Raj tried to control his anger over Harry's relatives. After a few minutes of controlling his anger, he said "From today on you will be having all your meals here. I will teach you cooking so that when I'm not available, you can cook for yourself. Is that alright with you Harry?" Raj asked.

"You don't have to go to the…" Harry was cut off before finishing that sentence by Raj saying "That is not up for discussion Harry. I asked you if you don't mind learning how to cook or should I arrange for some alternative".

"I already know how to cook uncle. I cook every day for my relatives. I don't mind learning any new dishes though" Harry said.

"Well at least some good came out of it. Before we start today, I want you to take these potions. These are nutrition potions. They will help you undo the damage done to your body due to the years of malnutrition" said Raj, dishing out 3 different coloured vials.

"The purple and blue ones, you are supposed to take before at least one hour breakfast. The black one, you will take before sleeping."

Harry took the first two potions making various faces while drinking them. After taking the potions he turned to his uncle and asked" What are you going to teach me today? Will you teach me how to cast that invisibility spell you used before? Or you can teach me that notice-me-not charm or that bubble face thingy or you can teach me more about that snake language" almost out of breath by the last question.

Smiling at the kids enthusiasm, Raj said "Since you are still only a seven year old kid, teaching you any advanced spells is out of questions. Your magical core has still not stabilized to attempt such high-level spells. As for the snake language, it is known as 'Parseltongue' and the people who have the ability to speak that language are known as 'Parselmouths'. Ability to speak to snakes comes naturally to Parselmouths. There is nothing to teach about it. But doing magic using Parseltongue is a completely different aspect altogether and I'm afraid I'm not the right person to teach you that. When we can get out of this place I promise to take you to the masters of Parseltongue for you to learn. But today we will start with History of Wizarding World till lunch. After that we will start with basic potions as they do not require any magic. We also need to continue your Muggle studies too. I want you to take your end of the year exams at your school so that nothing seems to be out of place by the time your Hogwarts letter arrives".

Seeing the sour look on Harry's face, Raj chuckled at him and said, "Don't underestimate history Harry. If you don't know your History, you are prone to make the same mistakes your ancestors did and will stay stagnated instead of advancing. So we will start with your family history and proceed onto other things".

And with that, they continued to the rest of the morning with Raj explaining about various Wizarding wars, legislations, and their effect on both Muggle and Wizarding world. Before they knew it, lunch is upon them. During lunch Raj explained about Diagon alley and how things work differently in Wizarding world. After lunch Raj ran him with the rules and safety precautions needed to be followed during brewing potions. After that, he gave Harry some books on basic potions 'Beginner guide for Potions Brewing' and 'Little steps for fledgling Potions Brewers'.

They continued this routine for the next 2 years, changing his subjects with basics in transfiguration, charms, defence against dark arts and Muggle studies. Since Harry did not have a wand, all of his studies are completely theory except for potions. Raj also started Harry on physical make out training. Every morning Harry ran about 3 miles and then proceeded to do 30 push-up's, 20 squats and 20 pull-up's. But the most physically tiring exercise is dodging. Since they cannot use any high level Magic, Raj used to send low powered stinging hexes at Harry who dodged as many hexes as he can.

On Harry's 9th birthday, Raj surprised Harry by giving him a wand.

"This is an oak wood wand with the tail feather of a Garuda, a magical Eagle native to Himalayas, as its Magical core. I know this is not your wand Harry but I want you to take care of it as if it is your own. Can you do that for me Harry?"

"Of course I will uncle. This is the best birthday gift ever. I will cherish it for the rest of my life" said Harry hugging his uncle. "But whose wand is this? I thought you are not supposed to have more than one wand".

"That is not my wand either Harry. It belongs to someone very dear to my heart. I will tell you who that wand belongs to when the time is right. But for now I want you use that wand and start practicing practical transfiguration, charms and some potions for which you will need a wand. Your defence against dark arts will have to wait until you join Hogwarts. Now let us start with a simple transfiguration. Change this match stick into needle. You already know the required spell. Practise the wand movements and then try it." And with that Harry set on to practise practical Magic for the first time in his life.

 _ **Timeskip 2 years (July 24**_ _ **st**_ _ **1991**_ _ **)**_

 **Near 4 Privet Drive 10AM**

A five foot boy with deathly green eyes and raven coloured hair came running with a piece of parchment to a six foot man wearing casual t-shirt and jeans and started shouting in excitement "I got it. I got it. I finally got it".

"Whoa…whoa…Harry…harry…cool down a little bub. Why are you shouting like you had an overdose of pepper-up potion? What did you get?" asked an amused Raj. Gone was the scrawny looking boy wearing a pair of round spectacles and in his place stood a man in making with high cheeks and deathly green eyes full of excitement. Those malnutrition potions had done wonders to his body. He lost all his baby fat, if there was any to begin with and in its place is a well packed muscle he gained from all the work-out's he does every day.

"I just got my Hogwarts letter uncle Raj. It was with the other mail Dursley's usually receive. Now I can finally visit the Wizarding world" said an obviously excited Harry.

Raj concentrated on his occlumency for a minute then turned to Harry and said" I'm sorry Harry. But the protections placed on you and the house is still strong. I don't think I can take you anywhere"

Harry looked devastated by the news and asked "But how will I get there if you cannot take me there?"

"I don't know Harry" he said and took the letter and started reading it. After a few minutes of reading he turned to Harry and said" Here it says you need to reply before July 31st. So we will reply by saying that you do not know how to enter the Wizarding world and that you need assistance using my owl. If my estimation is correct then we will receive an uninvited guest and we need to be prepared for him" and they did just that.

 _ **Timeskip 2 days (July 26th, 1991)**_

Harry is brewing a 'Cure for boils' potion when an elderly looking man with long white beard and moon eye glasses entered the tent and looked around.

Harry looked up from his cauldron and asked the old man "Who are you sir? And how did you get in here?"

"Harry! Is that you my boy! I'm joyed to see that you not harmed by whoever has kidnapped you. Do not fret my boy, I shall rescue you and return you to your family. I'm sure they are worried sick about your disappearance" said the old man.

"Good morning Headmaster Dumbledore. I'm delighted to see you here", said a voice. Dumbledore turned around and came face to face with a brown eyed man who is looking with an amused expression on his face.

"Mr Chaudary! What is the meaning of this? What are you doing here? And what is Harry doing here? He should be inside his Aunt's house where he is safe and taken care of. If it gets out that you are holding Harry against his wish, then there will be a possible war between our countries. So I suggest you leave from here quietly before I decide to report your criminal actions to the ministry" said Dumbledore his twinkle in his eyes lessening a bit.

"If you are quite finished with your ' _empty_ ' threats professor, then we can start to discuss important things such as to why a hero of Wizarding world is left with his relatives in an abusive environment and why no one bothered checking with him" said Raj a not so friendly voice.

"I'm afraid this is an internal matter of Magical Britain and I do not need to explain anything to you. As his guardian I have the authority to decide where he lives." with that he turned to Harry and said "Let us be off Harry. I'm sure your Aunt will be worried sick about you".

"My name is Hadrian James Potter, Headmaster. I did not give you permission to call with such familiarity. And I'm not being held here against my will. In fact this place is a safe haven for me from the abuse of my Aunt and Uncle. So you can leave now. Oh and before you leave would you kindly lift the compulsion you placed on me against Wizards please" said Harry coolly.

"I'm sure you are exaggerating about your Aunt and Uncle. They may not love you as their own son but I'm sure they love you nonetheless. Those wards are placed for your own protection. The Wizarding world is dangerous for you and if any dark wizards know about your location it will endanger your life. Now let us be off. I do not want to repeat myself", said Dumbledore losing his cool composition.

Harry fumed on listening his word and tore open his shirt, buttons flying everywhere, revealing several cuts, belt marks and a cross sign on the right side of his chest and said to Dumbledore "You call this love you sadist bastard? Do you know how many days they have starved me? Do you know how many times they hit me just because I came across Uncle Vernon whale-faced Dursley when he was in a bad mood or Aunt Petunia horse-faced Dursley? If you are not going to take off those so called 'protections' on me, then I don't care about going to Hogwarts. I'm sure uncle Raj can find a way to get those protections off me and get me placed in Taxila University of Magical Education. Now if that is all, you can leave us Headmaster and I wish we will not meet again" before storming out of the tent leaving a dumb-stuck Dumbledore.

Dumbledore turned to Raj who is looking at him with a grim expression and asked "Is what Harry said is true? Did they really abuse him?" in a voice little more than whisper.

"It is true professor. When I met him, he was ready to go with me, just so he can get away from his relatives. What 7 year old kid gets ready to leave with a relatively stranger if he has a good family? He did not just ask me professor, he almost begged me to take him away. Now you can imagine how his life is" said Raj in a grave voice.

"I'm sorry Harry had to endure all this. I will talk to his relatives. I'm sure they will see reason. Harry has to stay with Dursleys for his own protection. Please, I implore you to see reason with me" said Dumbledore in his grandfatherly voice.

"For whose protection are you asking Mr. Dumbledore? Harry's? or Yours? I may not be able to able to speak to others about Harry's present location or his living conditions but I can and will raise concern over the protection of a Wizarding world's hero on international forum. Maybe you forgot, but Lily Potter used to be a close friend to the daughter of his Majesty of Magical India and when she does learn of the situation of her friend's son, she will not even hesitate to even wage a war against your country to get him. In fact, I don't even need to go that far, what do you think will happen when news gets out about the treatment of their National hero here in Wizarding Britain? How do you think the public will react? If you want to avoid all these things to happen Headmaster, I suggest you do as Harry asked you and relax those compulsion charms around him allow him to move freely and interact with other Witches and Wizards" said Raj in a threatening voice.

With a flick of his wrist, Dumbledore pointed his wand at Raj's face and said" Harry cannot have contact with the Wizarding world yet. He is not yet ready for all these things. He needs to have a normal childhood. I'm sorry I had to resort to this Mr. Choudary, but Harry has to stay with his relatives. All I do is for greater good" and said 'Obliviate'. With that a green light flashed from his wand and hit Raj across his face.

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 **Now there's your chapter. That's it for now. I request all the readers to please read and leave me a review or a PM. Your suggestions make a world of difference to me. Thank you all**


	5. Welcome to Diagon Alley

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Hello fellow readers. I'm so sorry for the late update. My family business took longer than I anticipated. From now on I shall try to update regularly.**

* * *

 **Characters belonging to Harry Potter book series are sole property of JK Rowling. Other character appearances are purely fictional.**

* * *

 **Previously:**

 _With a flick of his wrist, Dumbledore pointed his wand at Raj's face and said" Harry cannot have contact with the Wizarding world yet. He is not yet ready for all these things. He needs to have a normal childhood. I'm sorry I had to resort to this Mr Choudary, but Harry has to stay with his relatives. All I do is for greater good" and said 'Obliviate'. With that a green light flashed from his wand and hit Raj across his face._

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 **Chapter 3: Welcome to Diagon Alley**

 **July 31st 1991**

An eleven year old kid with dark black eyes and chestnut brown hair with round face entered 'Leaky Cauldron' along with his uncle and proceeded to the centre of the pub.

"Mr Choudary, been a long time last seen ya. Usual I presume?" asked a voice on the other side of the counter.

"Hello Tom! Been busy past few months. I'm escorting my nephew here to get his supplies for Hogwarts. We will be back for lunch though" said Raj to the old bartender and continued to the next room.

"Now carefully observe what I'm doing Harry. You will need it in the future" and with that he turned to face the wall, took out his wand and started tapping the bricks. The bricks started re-aligning themselves and gave way for both of them to enter the Diagon Alley.

"I think I can never get used to seeing the wonders of Magic uncle" said an obviously impressed Harry.

His uncle laughed softly at him and started walking towards a big white marble building at the end of the street. "First of all, we need to go to Gringotts Wizarding Bank and confirm your House Lord apparent status and then get your vault key. Then we can go get your Hogwarts supplies".

"Sure uncle. What do I need to do for status confirmation?" asked Harry.

"Just follow what the goblins tell you to do and it will be finished in no time"

The two guards at the entrance bowed to the uncle-nephew pair. Harry surprised them by bowing back to them, but continued their duty nonetheless. Inside the bank, there were several raised platforms inside small cabins where several goblins are working. The building itself has look of grandeur with black obsidian marble, high ceiling with magically suspended chandeliers, giving a medieval outlook. Harry and his uncle went to the farthest goblin that looked to be in the middle of stamping some papers. Raj leaned a little forward and said "We want to meet manager of the branch to discuss the matters of the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter. We would also like to meet Potter's account manager".

The goblin peered at him for a few moments then said in a clipped tone "Very well, follow me". With that the goblin led them through a corridor and then into a grand looking room and beckoned them to sit in chairs. "The manager will be with you shortly. Oh and Mr Potter, you can take off the glamour on you. It does not work against us once you enter through our entrance hall" and left the room.

After a few minutes of waiting, three goblins entered the room, one wearing golden armour that screamed royalty and power, and the other two wearing an expensive business suits which exonerated professionalism (for a goblin anyway). Following them were several goblins, all wearing identical uniform entered the room and formed a single line just behind the earlier three figures.

Recognizing the goblin wearing golden armour, Raj immediately sprung from his place, nudged Harry to follow me and bowed his head to the goblin and said "It is an honour to you King Ragnork, third of his name".

"The pleasure is all mine Raja Mahindra Choudary, second in line to Lordship of the Most Ancient and Noble house of Choudary" and then turned to Harry, who is evidently gobsmacked by the revelation.

Recovering from the shocking revelation, Harry bowed to Ragnork and said "It is an honour to meet you King Ragnork, third of his name. May your enemies bleed by your sword".

Ragnork showed slightest of surprise at his greeting but immediately covered it with a grin and said "And may your vaults flow with the gold of your enemies Hadrian James Potter, Heir apparent to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter".

"Now, you said you had some business regarding the House of Potter, Mr Potter?" asked Ragnork.

"Yes King Ragnork, I was wondering whether I can take my inheritance test and confirm my Lord Apparent status. Also, I would like to see my family account summaries for the last fifteen years and also visit my family vaults if that's possible"

"Of course Mr Potter. I will personally administer the test. But we can neither give you your family account summaries nor can we allow you to visit your family vaults other than your trust fund vault as per the instructions left by your magical guardian until you complete your inheritance test".

"My magical guardian huh...Can I change my Magial guardian after I complete my inheritance test King Ragnork?"

"You may. But only after your inheritance test"

"Alright King Ragnork, let us get on with this test so I can visit my family vaults and other businesses I have to attend today" said Harry in a neutral voice.

Harry and his uncle were led into an antechamber and Harry was beckoned to sit in a chair available at the table. On the table is a golden chalice which has rubies and emeralds embedded into it. Ragnork summoned a ceremonial knife and gave it to Harry by its handle end and instructed "Make a cut on your hand and drop three drops of your blood in this chalice Mr Potter. The wound will heal itself as soon as you finish you dropping your blood in this chalice".

Harry looked to his uncle who nodded and gathered himself and made a shallow cut on his hand and squeezed the cut a little to draw out enough blood. As soon as the third drop of blood landed in the chalice, a small smoke appeared in the chalice. King Ragnork took the chalice and started uttering some incoherent sounds in his native language. After a few minutes of casting various spells in goblin language a haze appeared from the chalice and formed a griffon. The griffon looked at Harry, peering through his eyes as if searching his very soul. After a few seconds the Griffon let out a loud screech and sped towards Harry and circled around him for a few seconds and finally settled on his right hand and dissolved into nothingness. After the haze on his hand is cleared a ring appeared on his right hand index finger which had Potter family crest on it.

King Ragnork looked to Harry and said "Congratulations Hadrian James Potter. You have just been confirmed as the Lord apparent to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter".

Harry looked excited and was about to say something when he was cut-off again by Ragnork. "Along your house Potter, you are also the Heir Apparent to two other Most Ancient and Noble Houses Mr Potter".

Harry, with his voice laced with a mixture of curiosity and doubt asked "May I ask what are the other houses that I am Heir apparent to?"

"You may ask Mr Potter" said Ragnork with his crooked grin.

After a few minutes of silence, it was clear that Ragnork was not going to say any more. Harry, a little peeved by the Goblin's cheek asked again "What are the other houses to which I am Heir Apparent to King Rangork?"

"We are instructed not to tell you anything about that Mr Potter. The last Lords of these houses instructed us very clearly that we are not to discuss anything about them until you are deemed worthy of becoming the Lord of the house by Old Magics of that House. Until such a time, we cannot reveal any information regarding your other House status. Now that you are confirmed as the Lord Apparent to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter, you can visit your family vaults. The only vaults you cannot visit are your parent's personal vault and the Lord of the House vault. Those you can visit when you are emancipated or you come of age, whichever comes first".

"Now teller Griphook will take you to your family vaults. After you finished your business in your vaults come visit me again and I shall provide you with the summary of your family's finances of the last eleven years. Do you have your key Mr Potter?" asked Ragnork.

Raj procured a small key from his robes and gave it to Harry who showed it to Ragnork. "Very well then, Teller Griphook, take Mr Potter and Mr Chaudary to the permitted vaults of House of Potter and after they finished their business with the vaults bring them to me" and with that he left the room along with his security detail.

They followed Griphook and after a roller-coaster ride with the little goblin, they stopped at vault no: 687. They got-off the ride and moved towards the vault. "House Potter owns a total of six vaults, five family vaults and one trust vault. This is your trust vault Mr Potter. All your school expenses, including your pocket money will be extracted from this vault. It contains 10,000 galleons and will be refurbished every year on the eve of New Year" and opened the vault.

Harry, coming out of his awed expression took out his moleskin pouch given by his uncle and started filling it. After satisfied that he had enough money for the time being, Harry gestured the goblin to close the vault and then proceeded on to the next vault. He walked through the vaults and found more galleons and documents, both arranged in a chronological order for the easy navigation for the owner through the sea of documents present. One of the vault deals with the investments in Wizarding world while the other one deals with investments in Muggle world. According to Griphook, the Wizarding world investment vault contains 124 million galleons while the Muggle investment vault has 325 million galleons. On Raj's advice Harry collected the documents of last 15 year investments in both Wizard and Muggle world. After gathering all the required documents they returned to the surface and moved to meet Ragnork.

Ragnork eyed the documents Harry and Raj are carrying and said "It is good to see that you are showing interest in your family business Mr Potter. Here are your family's annual financial statements for the last fifteen years" and handed him a large sheets of papers wrapped up by a cloth into a bundle. Seeing the bundle Harry's eyebrows shot up and looked to his uncle who is equally surprised by the size of the bundle.

"Your mother proved to be a great investor Mr Potter. She convinced your father to invest heavily in Muggle stock markets and brought shares of some companies which are giving handsome returns. Before her, your grandfather Lord Charlus Potter also invested in some Muggle companies and made plans for further investment. He is also the inventor of Sleekeazy's hair portion and owns a substantial portion of the company. And these are the copies of the documents of properties your family owns all over the world. You can contact us if you need any clarifications regarding the account statements and documents. We can owl all these documents to any location you choose for a small transportation charge of course" said Ragnork not losing any chance to earn gold.

"Thank you King Ragnork. Please send all these documents to Potter Manner at John O'Groats in Caithness, Scotland". Harry looked confused by what he just said asked "How do I know where the Potter Manor is?"

"Since you have been accepted as the Lord Apparent of House Potter you are now aware of the locations of all the properties owned by your family" said Ragnork.

Harry nodded at the explanation and said "I will go through all those documents and account statements and I shall contact you if I have any doubts. I have one more question though. Who can access these vaults?"

"Your Magical guardian can access your trust vault and the vault dealing with Wizarding world investment. Your mother was adamant about not giving access to Muggle investment vault to anyone other than herself, your father and you when you become eleven years of age. There is also another vault under the name Lily Evans, but it is not to be accessed by you until you completed at least 4 years' worth of magical education at Hogwarts or any other equivalent magical education institution".

"Can you block the access of my Magical guardian to my family vaults King Ragnork?" asked Harry.

"We can block his access to Wizarding investment vault but I'm afraid your Magical guardian will have access to your trust vault until you pass your OWL's and NEWT's or equivalent exams."

Harry thought for a moment and asked "Can you notify me if someone other than me and my uncle tries to access any of my vaults?"

"That can be arranged Mr Potter" replied Ragnork.

"Also Mr Potter, you can pay for your shopping and other things using your House ring. You do not need to carry that moleskin pouch everywhere you go for payment purposes. Just ask the shopkeeper to be shown where you should press your House ring for payment".

Harry nodded at the information and said "Is there anything else King Ragnork? After all time is gold" said Harry.

Ragnork gave a crooked smile showing his vicious teeth and said "Indeed it is Mr Potter. There is nothing else for us to discuss at this time. You may leave".

"I thank you for your time King Ragnork. May your enemies bleed by your blade" said Harry getting ready to leave.

"And may your vaults be flowing with your enemies gold Hadrian James Potter", said goblin king ending their meeting.

As soon as they left Gringotts, Raj reapplied the glamour charm on Harry and started his school supply hunt. After purchasing his parchment and quills, bits and bobs, cauldron and potions kit, they made their way to Madam Malkins for Harry's school robes. As they reached the front door Raj turned to Harry and said "You carry on Harry. I have some errands to run. I will meet you at Leaky Cauldron for lunch. Don't do anything to get others attention. And stay out of Knockturn Alley. It is extremely dangerous for you to be seen there and you need to remain out of public eyes until you start Hogwarts" said Raj.

"It's alright uncle. I will stay silent and unseen. All I need are my school robes and my wand. After I finished my school robes shopping, I will go get my wand and then go to Leaky cauldron and wait for you".

Raj nodded at Harry and left him at the door of 'Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occassions'. He made his way inside the shop and rang the bell alerting the owner about the customer's presence. A pudgy looking woman wearing a blue mauve came from inside the counter and said "What do you need dear? I'm sure we have your size. Wait! Don't say, you are here for your Hogwarts robes aren't you?" in a cheerful voice.

"Yes madam. It's my first year at Hogwarts. Can you show me those robes please? Also I need a full wardrobe for casual wears and formal occasions." asked Harry.

"Certainly dear. Let me have your measurements and we will proceed from there" and proceeded to take his measurements and after then proceeded to show him various types and qualities of fabrics. Harry chooses a silky smooth fabric and showed it to her. Seeing Harry's choice she said "That is the costliest fabric of cloth I have my dear, and I'm afraid it will be a bit more than you can afford. You can choose other cloth and I will see if I can give you any discount on it"

Harry smiled softly at her and said "I have my family name and reputation to uphold Madame and I cannot appear publicly in any lesser clothes than the absolute best there is. How much does these cost?"

"Normal Hogwarts robes cost between 15-25 galleons a pair but you choose an acromantula silk fabric with tiny gold threads stitched at the borders of the dress. Your robes will cost about 50 galleons a pair. I will through in your ties and socks too, if you continue your purchase" said an uncertain Madame Malkins.

"Thank you Madame. Do you accept payments using House ring?"

"Sure, just touch your ring at the centre of that board on counter and the amount will be transferred from your vault to my vault" said Madame.

Harry nodded at willed his ring to become visible and touched the designated place at the counter. He turned to see a gobsmacked Madame Malkins and shook her to get her out of shock.

Coming out of her shock she said "That's a Potter House ring. That means….that means….Merlins balls…..You're Harry Potter!"

"Hadrian James Potter, Madame Malkins, and I would appreciate it if you would keep silent about it" said a peeved Harry.

"Of course…..of course…. But I thought your name is Harry. All those books about you said your name is Harry Potter and you have green eyes, raven hair, scrawny looking boy wearing a pair of round glasses, looking like a miniature version of your father, James Potter. But you look so different" almost exclaimed the clothes store owner.

"I'm under a glamour charm Madame and I will be prosecuting the different book publishers that changed and used mine and my family name without my express permission. Please keep silent about what I told you. I would like to remain under wraps as long as possible" explained Harry.

"Sure Mr Potter. You have my word that I will not speak what transpired between us to anyone" said the exited robes designer. Harry and Madam Malkins continued his clothes shopping and finally after one hour Harry finished his clothes shopping and said "When my robes are ready can you owl them to Potter Manor please", asked Harry.

"It will be done Mr Potter. Do you need anything else?"

"That will be all Madame. I will see you later. Good day" with that Harry left the clothes store to get his wand.

As he was going to the wand shop, Harry felt a pull towards a shop just opposite to wand shop. Harry tried to ignore it as nothing and took a few steps towards the wand shop but the pull seemed to increase for every step he took away from the shop. It seemed to be almost calling out for him to reach it. Finally Harry decided to check out the shop. It read 'Eeylops Animal Emporium and Magical Menagerie'. Harry entered the shop and was greeted by a rugged looking teen in his mid-teens.

"Welcome to Eeylops Animal Emporium and Magical Menagerie. We have all types of pets you wish to have. Take a look around" he said.

Harry almost absent-mindedly said "Thank you" and moved onto the next room in the shop. "Oi kid, be careful in there. Those are all dangerous animals inside there".

Harry did not even acknowledge him and continued to move towards one of the corners of the room and stood in front another door. He turned to the earlier man who is looking at him with a critical eye and said "What is behind this door? I want to get inside this door".

"Door? You mean to tell me that you can actually see the door. It has been enchanted by my great-great-great-great grandfather so that only chosen persons can enter inside it. Now tell me why you want to get inside the room?" asked the emporium owner.

"I feel a pull, like something or someone is calling out to me and that pull has led me to this door. Can you please open it?" asked Harry almost desperately.

"Interesting. Very interesting. You have my permission to enter the room beyond that door young man" said a new voice.

Harry turned around to see an elderly man looking to be around 70 years of age holding a key. "Thank you for giving me permission Mr.."

"Oh! Where are my manners. My name is Finlay Eeylops. Owner of this fine establishment" said the old man.

"Grandfather! You should not be out of bed. You should be taking rest at this time" said the rugged teen.

"Do not worry my dear Eoyn. This is far too exciting opportunity to miss" said the old man and holding the door for Harry and said "Go on in young man. I have been waiting for my entire life for someone to come and claim it" in an excited voice.

The room behind the door is very small room with no furniture whatsoever. The only thing in the room is a small wooden stand on which there is a pillow on which an oddly colored egg having size of a fist is resting. The outside of the egg is a strange combination of red, brown, green and silver in differed shaped swirls. Harry looked awed at the egg which has been calling out to him for the last few minutes.

Harry took the egg in his hand and caressed it slowly. As soon as he took the egg in his hand there is a distinct sound of crack reverberating the room. Harry panicked as the egg continued to crack. After several more cracks a blinding light came out of the egg and filled the room. After the light subsided, on Harry's open palm, in the place of egg stood a half a foot snake, looking around the room curiously. As its eyes met Harry's it said _§§ Massster, you came for me at lassst. I have been waiting for you for a long time Massster.§§_

 _§§I am sssory you have to wait for me for sssuch a long time my friend. Thisss is my firssst day in thisss world. Pleassse forgive me§§_ said Harry almost reflexively.

 _§§Of courssse Massster. You do not have to apologissse for anything§§_

Before Harry can reply to the snake, the Eoyn said "What the hell is going on here? Grandfather, please explain what is going on here?

"I would also like to know what is happening here Mr Eeylops. How did you get this egg? How did I know where the egg is? And most importantly what is that feeling that made me come here?" asked Harry.

"Answer to that last question is 'familiar bond' young one. That snake in your hand is now your familiar. You both share a magical bond which enhances the both of you. The human in the familial bond get some enhanced senses of the bonded animal and control over his/her magic also increases. Your familiar animal on the other hand gets an increased intelligence and can have an increased control over its animal instincts. That is how you know that you should come here"

"Now to answer your first question, the egg was passed down to me by my father, who in turn got it from father and so on. The story goes that my great-great-great grandfather has a friend, Godric Gryffindor one of the founders of Hogwarts, who came across two eggs. He gave one egg to his close friend and the other he gave it to my ancestor for safekeeping, telling him that if anyone can hatch it, then they can keep it.

"Oh wow…. looks like this is your lucky day kid" said the store owner's grandson.

Harry nodded to that and asked "Who is the other person who has the other egg Mr Eeylops?"

"I do not know of that little one. But my grandfather did say that the other egg has hatched as soon as it went into the hand of the other person" answered the old man.

Harry was about to ask another question when his familiar said _§§ Massster, I am feeling hungry massster§§_

Hearing this Harry turned to the old store owner and asked "Do you have any meat sir? It seems my familiar is very hungry".

"You need to finalize the bond with your familiar young master. The hunger you mentioned is your familiar animal's magic trying to bond with yours" said Mr Eeylops.

"How do I finalize the bond sir?"

Stroking his chin Mr Eeylops said "Finalizing familiar bonds differ for every animal. If I recall correctly, my great grandfather mentioned something along the lines of 'You should make a small cut on your hand and present it to your familiar. He will lick it so that your blood will be flowing through your familiar and its saliva will be in you, bonding you both for a life-time'".

Harry did just that and presented his wounded hand to his familiar. The snake looked Harry in the eyes as if his piercing gaze looking through his soul and then licked his master's wound. As soon as it finished licking thin tendrils of magic arouse from both the master and his familiar and joined in the mid-way, finalizing the familiar bond.

As soon as the tendrils met, Harry felt a sudden burst of energy course through him. His knees buckled at the intensity of the magic flowing through him. After a few moments the magical flow subsided indicating that the animal in front of him is bonded to him for his life.

It took a few seconds for Harry to hold over his senses and his eyes landed on the creature in front of him which looked completely different from a few seconds earlier. Where earlier it was only half-foot long and very thin, now it is a solid two foot long with beautiful shimmering green scales and bright reptilian eyes.

For Harry, the creature in front of him is one of the most beautiful things in the world. Looking the creature in the eyes he said "Jade"

 _§§Jade… I like it massster§§_

 _§§I'm glad you like it Jade§§_

"Jade?" asked the Eoyn

"Yes Jade. That is the first thing I got in my mind after seeing her" answer Harry.

"Her? You mean that snake is a female?" exclaimed Eoyn.

Jade hissed at him threateningly at hearing this. Harry chuckled at the pale face of Eoyn and said to his familiar _§§Don't be angry Jade. He did not mean anything by it§§_

 _§§If you sssay ssso massster§§_

"Do not worry Eoyn, Jade just got angry because you called her a snake. You see, she is not just a snake, she is a basilisk" said Harry lightly.

"Bb…bbaa…basilisk? You mean to all this time we had an egg of a basilisk in our shop?" said Eoyn and promptly fainted.

The store owner chuckled lightly at his grandson and said "That is a good name young master". Then with a serious face, Eelyops said "You should take great care of your familiar young one. Since she is just born, her poison is not lethal yet but can cause severe nerve damages. Also I suggest you keep your familiar bond a secret. There are many in our society who consider Parseltoungue and basilisk as symbols of evil and dark magic".

Sinking in the information Harry said "Thank you for your precaution Mr Eeylop. I will never let anyone separate me and Jade. No matter what happens."

"See to that you do young one"

"Sure Mr Eelyops. Now, how much do I owe you for my familiar?" asked Harry.

"You do not owe me anything my child. That egg was not ours to begin with so it is not mine to sell it. But if you want to do business with us, we have several treats and reptile specific foods" said Eelyops.

"Then I will take twenty each of the treats and reptile foods Mr Eelyops. How much does it cost?" asked Harry.

"Total will be twenty galleons my child" replied the old shop owner.

After paying him the amount Harry was just about to leave the shop when Jade vanished in a burst of green flames. Harry panicked at what happened to Jade but Eelyops interjected and said "Do not worry young one. Your familiar just went out for hunting. She will return after finishing her hunt or you can call her right now".

Harry sighed a breath of relief and said "Thank you for warning me Mr Eelyops. For now I will let her hunt and by the time she finishes may be I will finish my shopping too. Have a good day Mr Eelyops" replied Harry.

Harry cast a simple tempus spell with the wand Raj gave him and found it was almost noon and started for the Leaky Cauldron to have lunch with his uncle. By the time Harry reached Leaky Cauldron Raj was already waiting for him.

Seeing Harry he waved over to him to the table he is sitting. "So Harry, finished with your shopping? You didn't face any problem did you?" asked Raj.

"No uncle. Everything went fine. More than fine actually, everything went great" said Harry excitedly.

"Oh really! Then I must hear what you have to say. Do you want to have lunch first or do you want to wait?"

"Lunch can wait uncle. I have something very important to show you. Do they provide a private dining room here?" asked Harry.

His interest peaked on hearing Harry say that, he immediately went to enquire about the private room and returned with Tom, who led them to upstairs and showed them a room and said "The room is warded against listening and tracking charms. If you want, you can add your own privacy spells for added protection". With that Tom left the room.

"Lock the room uncle and add privacy charms around us" said Harry.

Raj cast the privacy wards around them and then said "Ok Harry, you already peeked my interest. So what happened in diagon alley that got you so excited?"

"It's better if I just show you instead of telling you" and with that Harry said _§§Jade jade, come to me jade§§_

"Harry what are yo….." he was cut off by a sudden burst of green flames and a beautiful green snake appeared in front of them.

 _§§You called me for massster§§_

 _§§Yesss Jade. I want you to meet my uncle Raj§§_

 _§§Uncle Raj, I want you to meet my familiar Jade§§_

 _§§Greetingssss my massster'sss uncle§§_

Raj, still reeling in shock from the revelation did not reply. Harry still smiling shook his uncle out of his stupor and said "It is rude not to return the greetings uncle. You are the one who taught me that".

 _§§Hello Jade. Nice to meet you too§§_

"Ok Harry. You got me there. That is a good one I admit. Now I want you to tell me everything that happened during your shopping in Diagon alley" said Raj coming out of his stupor.

And so Harry started reiterating what happened to him after Raj left Harry to do shopping in Diagon alley. It was after one hour that Harry and his uncle left Leaky Cauldron to get Harry's wand.

Harry and Raj stood in front of a dingy looking shop. The board in front the shop said 'Olivanders – Makers of fine wands since 382 B.C'.

Harry entered the ancient wand shop. It reeked of wood and decay. He went to the counter and rang the bell.

"I was wondering when I will be seeing you Mr Potter" said an old man with grey hair and bright eyes startling Harry who panicked that his false identity has been discovered. Mr Olivander either didn't see his panic or just plain ignored it. "It seems only yesterday you mother and father was here buying their first wands. Which is your wand hand Mr Potter?"

"If you mean which hand I use for my daily activities then I use both my hands Mr Olivander. I'm ambidextrous".

"Ambidextrous you say. Interesting, very interesting. I think I will enjoy myself finding the right wand for you. Let us start with this" he said and brought out a long rectangular box and took out a long stick out of it. "Thirteen and half inch, maple wood, unicorn hair. Good for charms. Give it a try" said the wand maker.

Harry took the wand and felt nothing from it. Harry returned it to the wand maker and tried another one. This continued for another half-an-hour and there is almost his waist height of pile of wands he tried. By each wand he tried and got rejected Harry is getting anxious and the wand maker seemed to be getting excited.

Olivander went to the back of his store and brought an old looking box and gave it to him. As soon as Harry touched the wand he felt his hand burning and left the wand. The wand too burned as soon as Harry touched it. The only thing left of the wand is a half-burnt feather floating in air.

"I was so sure it would work for you Mr Potter. I must say that I've never seen a wand burning before. That wand was a hollow wood with phoenix feather as its magical core. That you had such a strong reaction to it, is there anything you wish to share with me Mr Potter?" asked the old wand maker.

"Uh…um…there did happen a small incident earlier today. But I don't see how that has anything to do with this" said Harry.

"I can assure that whatever you say today, it will not leave this shop. If you want I can give you an oath of secrecy Mr Potter" said Olivander.

"That will not be necessary Mr Olivander. Your word is enough oath. Harry, why don't you show him" said Raj.

 _§§Jade, pleassse come to me§§_

A short burst of green flames later Jade appeared in front of the group of people in the wand store.

 _§§What can I do for you Massster§§_

 _§§Jade, thisss isss Mr Olivander. He is going to make a wand for me§§_

"Mr Olivader, this is Jade, my familiar. She is a basilisk" said Harry.

"A basilisk you say. That explains a lot. That also explains why the holly-phoenix wand burst as soon as you touched it. A bite of a basilisk can only be cured by the tears of a phoenix. They are like the polar opposites. That is why you cannot have a wand which have phoenix feather as a wand core".

"Now that we have an idea on what your wand should be not made of, let us get on to work. Follow me Mr Potter and ask your familiar to come with us. I'm sorry Mr Chaudary but you cannot come with us. You can wait here or if you have any work, you can attend to it" said Olivander.

"I actually have some work to do. After you had your wand why don't you go to the room we took earlier at Leaky Cauldron and I will meet you there" said Raj.

"Sure uncle. I will go get my wand then"

"Alright then. See you later Harry", with that Raj left Harry in the ancient wand shop.

"Let us go get your wand Mr Potter" said the wand maker and left the room asking Harry to follow him.

Olivander took Harry to the back of his shop and stopped in front of an old door. The most peculiar feature of the door is that there is no handle to the open it. Olivander took out his wand and started an incantation. After a few moments the door opened to a room full of shrubs, bushes and trees.

The wand maker turned to Harry and said "Before we enter I must ask you to make an oath Mr Potter. It is a mandatory for all the non-residents of the forest we are about to enter".

"Um...sure Mr Olivander. How do I take the oath?"

"Place both your hands on the runic circle you see on the door and you will know what to do" said Olivander pointing out the circle on the door.

Harry did as instructed. As soon as he put his hand on the rune circle a thin tendril of magic rose from the rune circle and bound his hand to door and he started "I, Hadiran James Potter, do hereby swear on my soul and magic that whatever I encounter beyond this door, I will not reveal those incidents to anyone under no circumstances. So I swear, so mote it".

As soon as Harry completed his oath his glamour fell. "That felt weird" said Harry lightly.

"That it does" said Olivander chuckling lightly.

"Do you know how to feel your magic Mr Potter" asked Olivander.

"I do sir. Why?" replied Harry.

"Good good. Now I want you to close your eyes and feel for your magic and tell me which way it directs you" said the wand maker.

Harry nodded to him and reached out for his magic. There, deep inside him, he can sense a warm feeling. Then he felt someone or something calling out to him. It was different from the calling of his familiar. Harry started moving through the forest and finally stopped in front of a large white tree with no leaves. The tree was exuding an aura of power and calmness. Harry was cut off from his musing by Olivander saying "An elder white oak tree, excellent for battle magic, both for defensive and offensive purposes but works abysmal for healing magic".

Tiny little creatures looking like dried wooden branches trickled down from the tree and stood in front of the tree baring their hand, like stopping Harry from moving forward toward the tree.

"They are called bowtruckles Mr Potter. They act as guardians for all these trees. I think it is better to take their permission before we use the wood of these trees because the wood given to us by the blessing of a bowtruckle is known to be more potent than others" said the wand maker.

"And how exactly am I supposed to do that sir?" asked Harry.

Before Olivander can answer one of the bowtruckle come forward and started climbing onto Harry and another one toward Jade. Seeing the bowtruckle moving towards her, Jade hissed at it as a warning.

"Do not reciprocate to them Mr Potter. Let them do what they are doing. They are trying to assess you. And please tell your familiar to do the same" said Olivander urgently.

 _§§Do not attack them Jade. Sssstal sssstill§§_

 _§§But Massster they….§§_

 _§§Pleassse Jade. Jussst do what I tell you to do. If you ssstay ssstill till thisss isss all over, I will treat you with a horde of your favourite treatsss§§_

 _§§You better keep your promissse massster. Thessse lowly creaturesss are running all over my beautiful sssscalesss§§_

 _§§Ssssure Jade§§_

After a few minutes of running over Harry and his familiar, the bowtruckles finally left them alone and huddled themselves together making various incoherent sounds to one another.

"What are they doing Mr Olivander?" asked Harry a little peeved by the behaviour of the tiny creatures.

"They are discussing of course. Whether you are worthy of receiving their wood or not" replied Olivander, amusement playing in his eyes.

After a few minutes the bowtruckes separated and one of them ran towards the tree, climbing it and came back holding a long white wooden stick and presented it to Harry.

Harry took the stick and presented it to Olivander who scrutinized it and said "Excellent Mr Potter. You got a top of the quality wood. Now let us be off to find you a magical core and focus material for your wand" and started moving in other direction.

Harry quickly fell in line with the wand maker and asked "Mr Olivander, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Ask away my boy. Ask away" said Olivander still looking straight ahead.

"What exactly is this place Mr Olivander?"

"This place is known as 'congregatione de arboribus' or commonly known as 'Wand makers backyard'. This is where wand makers all around the world get their wood from. This is also a closely guarded secret protected and shared by all those of us who read ward lore. It is now your responsibility too my boy" said the wand maker.

"Ha sure Mr Olivander. I will not tell about this forest to anyone"

"That is good to hear Mr Potter"

They came to a clearing with stones on which some runes are carved on their surface. "Now I want you to stand in that circle and drop three drops of blood in this bowl Mr Potter" and handed him a ceremonial bowl and knife.

As soon as Harry dropped his blood in the bowl, the runic circle lit up and Olivander started chanting in some incoherent language. After a few minutes of chanting the ceremonial bowl lifted from Harry's hand and started floating in air rotating itself and the inside of the bowl started glowing in bright orange. A few moments later the glowing subsided and Mr Olivander stopped his chanting and took hold of the bowl.

"Fascinating…. Absolutely fascinating" said the wand maker rolling a red crystal between his fingers.

"What is that Mr Olivander?" asked Harry obviously curious about the crystal in his hand.

"This is a red ruby Mr Potter. Getting a red ruby crystal for your wand foci is very rare. I myself have never encountered a person who is in need of this. I will enjoy working myself creating your wand Mr Potter. Now for the last ingredient, as your wand core, I believe the poison and a tooth of your familiar will work wonderfully. Can you ask your familiar to provide those for me?" and handed him a small vial.

Harry nodded and turned to Jade as said _§§ Jade, can you give me sssome of your poison and a tooth for my wand please§§_

 _§§Ofcourssse Massster. Anything you like§§_ said his familiar and opened its mouth wide and spit a tooth on to the ground and some poison into the vial Harry is holding for Jade.

Harry gave the tooth and vial to the wand maker and said "Do you need anything else Mr Olivander?"

"No Mr Potter. I have everything I require to make your wand. Now let us get back to the shop" and with that the wand maker, his customer and customer's familiar left the forest and returned to the shop.

Standing behind the counter the wand maker said "Tomorrow is a full moon. So I will be working on crafting your wand from today itself and proceed to complete it within the next three days. Come back after three days and I will present to you your wand Mr Potter".

"Ok Thank you Mr Olivander. Have a good day sir" said Harry and turned to his familiar and said _§§Jade, I will call you again when it isss sssafe to call you again. Leave for now and ssstay sssafe till then§§_

 _§§Ofcourssse Massster§§_ said the green scaled basilisk and vanished in a burst of green flames.

Harry nodded to the wand maker and made his way out to of the shop to meet up with his uncle.

As soon as Harry stepped out of the shop he came face to face with ice blue eyes giving him a cold look. Harry froze at his place and his mind took a few moments to process what is happening.

Taking a step back Harry saw the face of the person to which those cold blue orbs belonged to. Sunny blonde hair, high bone cheeks, pink rosy lips…. Harry was so busy taking inventory of the person that he missed the said person narrowing his/her eyes and saying "You know it is rude to stare at a person Mr Potter"

It took a moment for Harry to recognise that voice and those blue eyes and said with wide eyes "Daphne..?"

* * *

 **Now there's your chapter. That's it for now. I request all the readers to please read and leave me a review or a PM. Your suggestions make a world of difference to me. Thank you all**


	6. The Big Secret

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Characters belonging to Harry Potter book series are sole property of JK Rowling. Other character appearances are purely fictional.**

* * *

 **Here's another chapter. Read and enjoy**

* * *

 **Previously:**

 _Taking a step back Harry saw the face of the person to which those cold blue orbs belonged to. Sunny blonde hair, high bone cheeks, pink rosy lips…. Harry was so busy taking inventory of the person that he missed the said person narrowing his/her eyes and saying "You know it is rude to stare at a person Mr Potter"_

 _It took a moment for Harry to recognise that voice and those blue eyes and said with wide eyes "Daphne..?"_

* * *

 **Chapter 4 : The Big Secret**

"For Merlin's sake! Don't run off like that Tori" said an exasperated blonde haired girl.

"Oh come on Daph, this is my first time coming to Diagon Alley. You honestly can't expect me to not be excited" whined a miniature version of the older girl.

"But that does not mean you can run off like that. Now let us go get my wand and then we can return to father. You do know he does not like kept waiting, don't you Tori?" said Daphne.

"I'm sure father does not mind waiting another 10 minutes. You should really get over that incident Daphne. He did apologise to you many tim….." she was cut off by Daphne saying "Still doesn't change the fact that it did happen in the first place, does it? Now let us go get my wand"

The blonde siblings reached the wand maker shop and were about to enter when the door opened and messy raven haired boy with striking green eyes came out. She would recognise those eyes anywhere as they belonged to the boy who saved her all those years ago. She noticed that the boy is looking at her with sight wide eyes.

"You know it is rude to stare at a person Mr Potter" said Daphne in cold voice.

It took a moment to for the boy to respond. "Daphne..?" his voice full of happiness and confusion.

"Daphne, is that really you? What are you doing here? I mean….of course you are here for your Hogwarts school supplies. It's really good to see you" blubbered Harry all in one go, making a mess of himself.

"Surely you would feel good to see me. After all I am your damsel in distress aren't I?" hissed Daphne.

"Of course I feel goo….wait what? Damsel in distress? What are you talking about Daphne?" asked a confused Harry.

"Don't you dare deny it Potter. How dare you try to use me to up your fame? I never thought you would be such a vain and cunning bastard. To think I thought that you were my friend, God! I must have sounded so stupid at that time. Did you have a good laugh at my expense after I left Potter?" asked in such a voice that made Harry want to crawl under something to escape her.

Regaining his bearings Harry said slowly "I really have no idea what you are talking about Daphne. I entered the wizarding world just this morning. Until now, the only contact I had of the Wizarding world is my uncle and I'm sure he did nothing of the sort you are accusing me of"

"Of course you would deny it because you didn't use my name in your adventure books. _Haphne Watercross_? Really Potter? You really thought I wouldn't recognise the characters in that book?"

"Really Daphne. I don't know what you are talking about. Please tell me what exactly are you talking about and we will sort out this mess. Please" Harry said almost in a desperate voice.

"There is nothing to talk about Mr Potter. Just leave me and my family alone. I just hope that I don't see you ever again" and turned to her sister and said "Come Astoria, we're leaving" and rushed past Harry to the wand shop.

Harry's head was spinning at what just happened when he felt a small tug at his shirt. He turned to see the younger Greengrass. After looking him for a few seconds as if trying to assess him she finally said "So, you are the Harry Potter, _The-Boy-Who-Lived,_ who saved my sister in that muggle park all those years ago _"_

"I really hate that little moniker. My name is Hadrian James Potter actually. But you can call me Harry. And I didn't save her _per se,_ just took her out of the chaos and gave her company until someone came to find us" said Harry holding out his hand.

Astoria ignored his out stretched and looked at Harry, making him squirm a bit under her gaze and finally said "So, you really don't know what Daphne is talking about earlier?"

"No…no I don't. She is the first friend I ever made. She is the one who told me that magic is real. Why would I do something to hurt her? To be honest she is still….the only friend I have, at least that's what I thought until a few minutes ago" said Harry, the last sentence in little more than a whisper.

Astoria scrutinized Harry for a few more moments and declared "I believe you".

"What? Just like that you believe me? I mean thanks…but.." stammered Harry causing Astoria to sigh.

"Listen Harry. Daphne does not have many friends. Even when we go to customary balls and parties of other purebloods and ministry, she does not socialize very much. You were the first friend she made and it really hurt her when that book came out. So you should understand her if she is a little cold towards you" said Astoria.

"Books? What book? I don't know any book" said a confused Harry.

"Look I really don't have time to talk to you right now. We'll do one thing. Come to platform 9 _3/4_ a bit early say one hour before the train leaves on the day you leave for Hogwarts and we will talk then" asked younger blonde.

"Uh..sure. Just tell me where I can find this book you mentioned earlier"

"Didn't you already have your Hogwarts first year books yet?"

"No, I saw the list and found that I have all those books with me already. But I was going to look for some other books on charms, transfiguration and spells. Why do you ask?"

Astoria raised an eyebrow at him said "No reason. Go to _Flourish and Blotts._ There is an entire section there dedicated for such books. See you on September 1st Harry. Bye" and left him.

Harry debated about going to the mentioned book shop without glamour charm on him but decided against it and started for Leaky Cauldron and wait for his uncle. Just as he took few steps towards his destination he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder. Harry was about to resort to use his wand against him when the stranger said in a low voice "Cool down kid. It's me".

Harry released a sigh of relief and heard his uncle ask him "What happened to your glamor I cast on you?"

"It wore off at some point when we were looking for materials to make my wand" responded Harry.

Raj nodded and asked "Did you get your wand?"

"No, Mr Olivander said it would take three days to make it so asked me to come after then" replied Harry.

"Alright…so is there anything you need to buy?" asked Raj.

"Actually uncle, I would like to go see the local book store. I heard there are some interesting books there that will catch my attention" answered Harry.

Raj raised his eyebrow lightly and said "Ok Mr Mysterious guy. Lead the way".

"Before we go, can you cast glamour on me again uncle?" asked Harry.

"I ought to teach you that seeing as you will be using that quite often when you come out to public places. But sure. Here you go" and cast a glamour on Harry.

* * *

Both Harry and Raj entered the book shop and Harry immediately started looking for the section Astoria mentioned.

Raj found Harry staring at a book and shook him bringing him out of his stupor and asked "What is it Harry?"

Harry pointed to the book he is holding and said in a low voice "Do you know anything about this uncle?"

Raj took the book, skimming through its pages, his eyebrows rising with each page he skimmed. "I honestly have no idea how this happened Harry. I heard that there are a few books of some people speculating on how you survived that night when the Dark Lord attacked you and your parents but I never thought these types of books would exist".

"I believe you uncle. I want to buy all these books" said Harry.

"If you want to. But I could hazard a guess and say that most of these books are fictional works of some idiot with you as the main character. So I think it would be a waste of time to read these books" said Raj.

"No uncle. I want to buy them" said Harry vehemently.

"Alright kiddo. Cool down. You can buy them. I have no problem with that" replied Raj raising his hands defensively.

"I'm sorry Uncle. I didn't mean to come across like that. It's just I met Daphne after all these years and she accused me of using her to increase my fame. I guess I'm just upset at that" said Harry in sad voice.

"Daphne? As in the blonde you rescued in zoo accident all those years ago?"

Seeing Harry nod to him Raj chuckled lightly and said "Well what do you know. You already met your long lost girlfriend and even had your first fight with her. You've grown up Harry. I'm so proud of you!", wiping fake tears off his eyes.

Harry's face reddened at his uncle's proclamations and almost shouted "She is just my friend uncle. Now just let us buy these books and get out of here".

"Whatever you say kiddo" said Raj with amusement twinkling in his eyes.

* * *

After buying the books they proceeded to Leaky Cauldron. "Harry, now that have confirmed your House Lordship status, you can move to Potter Manor or any other properties your family owns. So, where do you want to stay Harry?" asked Raj.

"I want to visit Potter Manor first uncle. We can stay there for this night and visit other properties tomorrow" said Harry.

"Of course Harry. Do you remember what I taught about magical transportations?" asked Raj.

"Yes uncle. One is travelling via a fire network known as floo network, one is travelling via a portkey, one is travelling apparition and last one is travelling using knights bus. Why?" replied Harry.

"Because you will be going to Potter Manor using floo network and then you can key me in to the wards. You do remember how to travel using floo right?"

"Take a hand full of floo power, then through it into the fireplace and say your destination" huffed Harry as if feeling insulted by his uncle.

"Right then, there is the fire place. Go ahead and give it a try"

Harry walked over to the fire place and took a hand-full of floo powder and said 'POTTER MANOR'. His entire body is engulfed in flames as soon as he said those words and he is sqeezed through the fire portal and suddenly was suddenly blasted through an opening.

Harry shot off like a cannon ball from the fire place in the 'Potter Manor'. He dusted himself up, mumbling something incoherent under his breadth about stupid magic transportation and took a look around the house. When he arrived the entire room was dark but by the time Harry lifted himself from the floor the chandelier lit up magically enlightening the entire room.

Suddenly there was a pop of sound and a short creature with large eyes and long pointed ears with a curious expression etched on its face, stood facing Harry.

Squirming slightly at the intense gaze of the funny looking creature in front of him, Harry awkwardly said "Uh… Hello?"

"Master Hadrian? Is that be you? You be coming home at last Master?" said the creature and flung itself at Harry, clinging to his knee.

"Uh. . .um. . . nice to meet you too?" said Harry not knowing what to say.

Prying the little creature from him Harry said "May I know who you are?"

"I be Patty, Master Hadrian. Head Elf of Potter Manor" said the little creature proudly.

"Oh hi Patty. Do you think you can show me where the ward book is? I have a guest I want to invite to the Manor" said Harry to the excited elf.

"Patty can be doing that Master" and snapped its fingers and a book materialized itself in front of Harry.

Harry opened the book and eyed the names present and found that all the previous names had been stricken off. Harry added his uncle's name to the wards book and floo called his uncle to inform him of it. A few minutes later Raj came through the Manor floo and started looking around the Manor and said "I've been here once before during your parents wedding day".

"Patty also be remembering that day as well Master's guest. Mistress Lily was very kind to all us house elves. She even let us drink our favourite drinks that night. Patty be missing Master and Mistress very much" and started wailing out loudly.

Taken surprised by the sudden outburst of the little elf Harry kneeled before the elf and patted on its head lightly and said "I too miss them Patty. Although, I learned that there is little use in living in the past. Now I've got my uncle and now I've you to look after me too. So please don't cry Patty".

The little house elf nodded at Harry with its eyes wide as saucers and said "Master be too kind to poor little Patty. Patty now stopping crying and show you around the Manor to Master and his guest".

"Oh yes I almost forgot. Patty, this is my uncle Raj. I want you to show him the same respect you show me and follow his instruction even when I'm not around".

The little elf nodded its head enthusiastically and said "Of course Master. Patty be following Master's instructions and be serving him".

"Nice to meet you too Patty" said an amused Raj.

"Now why don't you show us around the Manor Patty" said Harry.

Nodding eagerly, the house elf took Harry's hand and started showing them around. They left the floo room and entered a tastefully decorated foyer with marble floors. There were around a dozen suits of armour decorated neatly along the length of the wall. Patty led them past the foyer and to the rest of the Manor. The exterior structure was rather similar to a Jacobethan style of architecture and the interior was quite well done. Most walls were painted silver, almost all the carpets and furnishings were green, black, red and silver accents and the furniture was made of a glossy black wood. The foyer led to a grand staircase which led to the floors above. On the ground floor were several parlours and lounges, a large ballroom, three different sized dining rooms, and a study for entertaining guests, the floo room through which Harry and his uncle came from as well as the large kitchen which was way bigger than the kitchen at Dursley's or the one in his Magical tent.

On the second floor was the guest suites, each one containing a few rooms meant for guests to the estate. The third floor has an even large collection of suites and also the Lord's chamber, which was a massive suite of rooms which are decorated lavishly. The Lady's chambers were further down the hall and were an equally beautiful set of rooms.

The third floor also has the entrance to the Potter library, which Harry has to again key in his uncle. The Potter family being one of the Most Ancient and Noble house has a one massive library. Inside were rows up on rows of books and scrolls, several sculptures and paintings and also a few what looked like a private studies. Patty took Harry's hand and almost dragged him to one of the private study rooms. Raj followed Harry and the little elf to the private room. Inside the room is a large painting of about 7"foot long, of a man who looked to be in his early 70's.

Bowing to the painting, the little house elf said "Master Charlus, this be Master Hadrian, son of Master James and Mistress Lily. Patty brought him to you as soon as she can Master".

Harry was staring at the portrait when he heard the portrait said "My name is Charlus Fleamont Potter my child and it seems I am your grandfather".

Harry's face lit up on hearing what the portrait said and he enthusiastically replied "Hello grandfather. It is nice to finally meet someone from my family. I've heard a lot about you and your exploits during the last war grandfather. I hope I can live up to our family name"

"So you are my family heir. I'm glad you think so highly of me. So tell me young man, why is this the first time I'm seeing you here? Why haven't you been here before?"

"I believe I can answer that question Lord Charlus" interjected Raj.

"And who might you be?" asked the portrait a little irritated at the interruption.

"My name is Raja Mahindra Choudary, second in line to the lordship of the Most Ancient and Noble house of Choudary of Magical India. You can call me Raj".

"House of Choudary you say hmm. . . I remember the house. I served with one of you at front lines during the war against Grindelwand. In fact, your house is one the very few houses who sent their aid to us. Perhaps you are in anyway related to Vikrama Mahindra?" asked Charlus stroking his short beard.

"Yes sir. I believe he is my Great grandfather. I'm honoured you remember us this long sir" replied Raj.

"Never mind my boy. You can call me Charlus. Now coming back to present, seeing as you are accompanying my grandson and not his parents, am I to assume that they are no more?" asked the portrait of late Lord Charlus.

"I'm afraid you are right Charlus. They both lost their lives protecting your grandson."

"And why might I ask did he not spend his childhood growing up in his ancestral house?" asked Lord Charlus, little anger seeping through his voice.

"Albus Dumbledore, Lord Charlus. He is the reason Harry had the childhood he had instead of the childhood he should have"

"Albus Dumbledore? What does he have anything to do the upbringing of my grandchild? And what is that idiot friend of my son, Sirius Black doing?" bellowed the portrait.

"Dumbledore, after James and Lily were killed, took guardianship of Harry and placed him in custody of Lily's sister, Petunia and her family. That is the reason he did not visit this Manor or you till now. And to answer your question about Sirius Black, he is thrown is Azkaban because he is believed that he betrayed James and Lily and led the Dark Lord to them on the night they were killed."

"Black betrayed James? Are you people lunatics? Sirius Black is the godfather of my grandchild and as such cannot bring any harm to him. The godfather oaths he took during the ceremony prevent him from doing such. Even if he somehow did betray his parents, why is he placed in the care of Lily's sister? From what little I know about them they hated Lily because of her ability to do magic and by extension anyone who can do magic. So why is he placed with them?" Charlus's face in the portrait is almost red with anger by the time he completed the last sentence.

Raj turning to Harry, said, "Harry, why don't you go explore the outside grounds of the Manor while your grandfather and I discuss some things. We will call you when we finish our discussion. Then we can have dinner together"

"But I want to know what you both are going to talk about uncle. I wa. . . "

"We will tell you what we are talking about after I confirm some things with your grandfather Harry. Please trust me" said Raj cutting off Harry.

Harry huffed at his uncle and said "Fine. You can have your super-secret discussions. I will just go and see if there is anything interesting I can occupy myself with. Come on Patty. Let's go" and left the study room with his little house elf in tow.

Raj let out a sigh of relief and said "I didn't think he would give up so easily".

"That's because he didn't" said Charlus chuckling lightly at his grandson's antics.

Hearing a light rummaging sound outside the door Raj opened the ajar resulting in Harry, who had his ear on the door to listen what they were talking about, toppled over into the room.

"Want to explain what you were doing outside the door when you said you will be going to explore the estate grounds Harry?" asked Raj, his hands on his waist.

"Well. . . you see uncle, the grounds are outside this room. So technically speaking, I'm still on the way to go explore them" said Harry a little too innocently.

The portrait of Charlus let out a boisterous laugh at this and said "Patty, take my grandson to kitchen and feed his some snacks. Then take him to see those hippogriffs we still have on our grounds. Don't let any harm come to him while visiting them".

"Yes Master Charlus. Patty be taking good care of Master Hadrian" squeaked the little house elf.

"Go on Harry. Raj and I promise you we will tell you what we are talking about at a later time. Now please leave us" said the magical portrait of Charlus still smiling.

Harry pouted at this and said "Well, it was worth a try. See you both later then" and left the room taking Patty with him.

"He reminds me of James a lot. He too used to try to sneak into or eavesdrop on my meetings" said Charlus with a sad smile and a distant look. Raj just nodded at him, remembering Lily and all the fun he used to have with her and Snape.

"Alright young man. Now that we have our privacy, what is it that you want to discuss with me?"

Coming out of his thoughts Raj said "What do you remember when I say the sentence 'All I do is for the greater good'?"

Charlus murmured greater good under his breath and bawled out "Explain! What does that man have anything to do with my grandchild?"

"I don't exactly know what is happening around Harry, Charlus, but I do know that Dumbledore is not who he appears to be"

"Enough with this speaking in riddles Raj. Tell me what exactly happened" almost shouted Charlus.

"I apologize. It is not my intention to speak as such. Maybe it will be better to start by saying how it all began eleven years ago, when I heard that the Dark Lord Voldemort has been defeated by a child named Harry Potter. . . . " and so on they continued their discussion for the next two hours.

 **Meanwhile with Harry**

After having snacks, Patty took Harry outside to explore the grounds of Potter Manor.

"Where are you taking me Patty? I thought we were going to visit hippogriffs" whined Harry.

"Yes Master Hadrian. Patty be taking young Master to see those bad hyppo grates. They be on the other end of Manor" squeaked the little creature.

"Hyppo..what? Never mind. How long till we get there" said Harry remembering the language limitations of house elves.

"Young Master be too eager for everything just like Master James. Here we are young Master. Patty not liking the bigger ones though. You be careful around them. They be the bad ones of the herd" squealed Patty.

Before Harry could reply to Patty a large hippogriff started running towards Harry screeching loudly at them. Harry stood stuck at his place, shocked at the hippogriff. He was led out of his stupor by Patty squealing loudly and tugging at him and he started to search for anything and everything he know about hippogriffs and recalled that they were proud creatures and will only respect strength and this time stood his ground, his head held high and looking straight into the oncoming creature's eyes.

The hippogriff slowed a little and by the time it came near Harry it almost stopped. When it neared Harry it screeched so loudly that Harry was sure his eardrums were blasted by the sound. The winged creature sniffed Harry around his face, then stood on its hind legs and screeched again. Harry still stood his ground and when the hippogriff came down to its four legs Harry, still looking at the creature slowly bent at his waist to the creature. The creature still looked at him apprehensively for a few moments, then returned his bow for a few seconds and then left back to his herd.

"Phew. That was more intense than I thought. What do you say Patty?" asked Harry wiping the sweat on his brow.

Patty glared at Harry and said "Young Master be bad master just like Master James. Always worrying poor old Patty" and huffed.

Harry chuckled at the angry elf and was about to reply when he felt someone tugging at his shirt. Harry turned and saw a small hippogriff, still tugging at his shirt, tearing a small piece. Harry patted the little creature on its head and scratched on the underside of its neck. The tiny creature let out a squeal of joy at Harry's ministrations.

"Patty? Do you have something to feed them?" asked Harry still patting and scratching the little creature.

"Yes Master. We feed meat to the little ones. The bigger ones can hunt for themselves" and snapped its fingers. A small bucket full of meat materialized in front of them. Harry took the bucket of meat and threw a small meat piece to the baby hippogriff. The little one munched happily at the free meal and soon enough the rest of the herd came near Harry after they overcame the initial hesitation.

Harry spent another hour and a half or so with the winged creatures and then left with Patty back to the Manor. By the time they reached the Manor sun was almost setting and his uncle was waiting for him in the library.

* * *

Seeing Harry returned Raj gestured him to come over and said "So Harry, did you enjoy your tour of the grounds?"

With a mischievous glint in his eyes Harry said "Well I explored the grounds uncle. But I cannot say what we saw there. I need to discuss something with Patty and confirm it with her. Maybe I will tell you at a later time".

Raj immediately lunged at Harry and caught him while he was trying to escape and started to tickle him mercilessly. Harry between squeals of laughter said "Please uncle . . haha. . huff. .huff. . . No more. . . please. . . "

"That should teach you better than to give a cheek to me you little bugger" said Raj loosening his hold on Harry.

Getting out of his grip Harry struck out his tongue at him and said "You deserved that uncle"

Still chuckling, Raj said "Alright. So, what did you do while your grandfather and I were discussing things?"

"Well, after having snacks Patty took me to the herd of hippogriffs on the manor grounds. I played with them till now and came back" said Harry omitting about the initial debacle with the herd leader.

"So what is this fiasco I hear about you and herd leader when he first saw you" asked a new voice.

Whipping around his head Harry saw his grandfather's portrait on the wall in the general section of library and asked "When did you get here grandfather. I thought you will be in that study we earlier met"

"Your grandfather is here to help me with your studies. He will be teaching you about your family history along with general history, potions, arthimancy and ancient runes until you leave for Hogwarts. You still didn't answer the question by the way"

"You don't stand in the way of a hippogriff when it is angry Harry. That is most foolish of you to do that" admonished his grandfather.

"Well, it's not like I have a choice there. That hippogriff can easily out run me if I choose to run away from it. I stood my ground because I thought that since they were proud creatures and if I show weakness in front of them they will never respect me. In the end my gamble played off didn't it? Moreover, if I was really in danger I'm sure that Patty would have taken me away from them"

"When you put it that way. . ." he said scratching his chin "Sharp thinking. I guess congratulations are in order then"

Harry bowed to his grandfather and said "Thank you My Lord".

Charlus chuckled at his grandson's antics and said "So Harry, do you know about occlumency?"

"Yes grandfather. It is the art of organizing one's mind through a discipline and defending it against intrusion from others. Uncle Raj introduced me to it. Now I'm in the process of organizing my thoughts in my mind palace. I think I will be finished by today night" said Harry.

"Mind palace? I thought you started your occlumency training last week" asked his surprised grandfather.

"Yes grandfather. But I already know all the exercises that are shown in that book. I've been doing meditation every morning before and after my early morning routine since uncle found me and got me started on my training" said Harry in a casual tone.

"I know you've been meditating Harry, but how did you create a mind palace so soon?" asked Raj, his curiosity peaking by every second.

"Well, I didn't uncle. It sort of just came to me. You remember that time when you had to leave me for two weeks because you had to go back to India to attend some family business?" Seeing Raj nodding his head Harry continued " The second day after you left, my aunt caught me while I was sneaking out of house and punished me for being a freak again and locked me up in my cupboard room. At that time I heard a voice inside my head telling me to hurt my aunt and her family for being rude to me all the time. I thought it was my inner voice and just ignored it. It came back the next day too and started giving me night mares for the next week or so. I just wanted it to stop so I imagined a small prison and willed the voice to be in that prison. Since then the voice stopped. Since I already created a building in my mind, I just improvised that same building as my mind palace"

Both Harry's grandfather and his uncle were surprised by what they just learnt. Raj recovered first and slowly said "Harry, why didn't you say anything to me after I returned?"

"Well, since the voice and nightmares stopped I thought it didn't matter. So I didn't mention it to you. Why uncle? Is there anything wrong with me?" said Harry uneasy creeping in his voice.

Before Raj could reply his grandfather said "The voice you mentioned, is it still in that same prison you created?"

"Not exactly in the same place grandfather. I created my mind palace as an extension building of the prison, but that voice tried to escape. So instead I created a deep dungeon under my mind palace and shoved that voice into it and barred its entrance with big iron gates"

Raj and Charlus exchanged a look between them and Raj nodded and said "Do you mind if I take a look at that dungeon Harry?"

"Sure uncle. But how will you get in there?" asked Harry.

"Clear you thoughts and go into your mind palace and you have any defences drop them for now. I will meet you in your mind palace and then you can take me there" answered his uncle.

"Uh. . . sure uncle" and entered his mind palace. Just as he was about to enter his mind palace he heard his uncle say 'Legilimens'.

* * *

Harry felt someone enter his mind and tried his best to stay calm and lower his defences as his uncle asked of him. After a few moments he saw his uncle shimmer in existence in front of him in his mind palace. His uncle saw looked around and said "You have a castle as your mind palace? I'm impressed Harry. Most people who try first time have a small house or location and later improve their mind palace and increase their defences. You seem to have natural instinct for mind arts. Now let us go to that dungeon and meet that voice".

"Sure uncle. Follow me uncle" and took him through his castle mind palace to the dungeon and stopped in front of a large iron doors barred by large steel chains and locks.

"I guess the voice you mentioned is behind that door Harry?" said Raj gesturing towards the door.

Harry nodded in affirmation and proceeded to remove the locks and chains on the door. After removing the last of the chains he turned to his uncle and said "Ready uncle?" Seeing his uncle nodding his head in confirmation he opened the door.

Inside the door is a snake faced individual tied to a chair with iron chains and locks. He looked up to his guests and sneered at them and said "Come to see me at last Harry. And you brought a guest I see. So what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"You changed. Last time I saw you, you were nothing but just a black smoke with no shape. Now you look almost like a human with the face of a snake. How?" asked Harry curiosity dripping in his voice.

"Oh I can thank you for that Harry. You see, as you grow stronger, I grow strong as well. So I urge you Harry, to grow stronger so that when I finally take over your body, I will be stronger than my original self" said the man in chains his voice getting excited with each word he uttered.

"You. . .your original self? I thought you were my inner voice. My. . .my. . ." Harry was cut off by his stuttering by the prisoner's cruel laugh and said "You are a naïve boy Hadrian James Potter, if you think I'm some deluded, depreciated form of you".

Harry was trembling by this point and said in a shaking voice he asked "Th. .then w. .who are you?" in a little more than a whisper.

Raj has been watching their conversation, his eyes becoming wide by each passing moment, then when the prisoner they came to visit mentioned about his original self, Raj suddenly felt a very cold shiver run down his spine when he realised who is in front of him and when Harry asked the snake faced human, the prisoner in question let out a cold smile and said "Looks like our little guest realised who I am. Why don't you tell my warden who I am Mr Raja Mahindra Choudary?"

Coming out of his stupor he asked "How do you know my name?"

Chuckling darkly, the prisoner said in a sinister voice "Oh I know more than just your name Mr Choudary. I've watched you interact with Harry. I watched you save Harry from those filthy muggles. It is because of you that I could not influence Harry any more. If you haven't come into his life he would have been in my clutches long ago".

"Then it's a good thing that I came then. But the thing I would like to know is how did you come to reside in Harry's mind?"

"Oh you would think so, wouldn't you. But when I free myself from this prison and take over this body then I will enjoy having my time with you, making you regret the day you came into his life. As to how I came to reside in this body, now that would be saying wouldn't it"

Listening to their conversion, pieces started to fall in place for Harry and said "In order for you to do that, first you should escape from here Voldemort. And I will make sure you will not escape from here"

"Oh, looks like little Harry solved the puzzle all by himself then. Now that you know who I am, what are you going to do Harry? Are you going to train yourself and become stronger? Because if you do, then I too will become stronger. Or are you going to stop training and hide somewhere? Because if you do that, then my original self will come after you and kill us both. So, tell me what are you going to do **Hadrian James Potter, Lord Apparent to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter**?" asked the prisoner, his blood red eyes pulsing with rage and hatred.

Harry stared at him, each of his words hitting him like a freight train as he realized that what he is saying is truth. Making up his mind, Harry looked up at Voldemort and with fierce determination in his eyes he said "I'm going to train Voldemort. And I will become strong. I will become so strong that even you along with your original self together cannot defeat me. I will become so strong that I will make you afraid to say my very name one day"

"Good little Harry, very good indeed. I want you to get stronger because when the time comes for our final confrontation and when I defeat you and take over your body, my victory will be that much more delicious. Now leave me my host. Leave and come back when you are ready for our little confrontation. Oh and before you leave, ask someone to take off those ridiculous magical binding placed on your magical core by that bumbling old fool Dumbledore. It is unbecoming of my host to have them supress your magical core" said the imprisoned Dark Lord before dismissing them.

"I will return to get rid of you Voldemort. Until then have a nice stay in your prison cell" said Harry leaving a smirking Dark Lord behind in his prison cell.

* * *

Both uncle and nephew left Harry's mind palace and started dictating what happened to the portrait of Lord Charlus. After finishing their recall an awkward silence fell over the group, each member immersed in their own thoughts. Finally the group's silence is broken by Charlus who said "Well, it is a good thing that we know what is inside Harry's head. As to how it came to be in his head, I have a theory" and called Patty and ordered her to bring a book from lord's private study.

Patty brought a book titled _**'MAGICK MOSTE EVILE'**_ and gave it to Raj who placed it on a table so that all three occupants of the room can read it and opened the page Charlus instructed him. The page read _'Of the wickedest of magical inventions, the Horcrux is the most foulest and wickedest of magic, even by the standards of Dark Magic.'_ And it went on explaining on how to make a horcrux, how it works, and how to find a hidden horcrux and how to destroy one. Unfortunately, there isn't much on how to find a hidden horcrux but it is written that a horcrux can be destroyed by _Fiendfyre,_ Basilisk venom or by blasting the horcrux with a killing curse.

After reading about Horcruxes Harry slowly asked his grandfather "So, I have a piece of Voldemort' soul in me and if I am not careful then it will consume my soul and take over my body". Raj's heart clutched at seeing the devastated look on Harry and got him into a bear hug and said "Don't worry Harry. Whatever might happen, I will never let him possess you. For every problem there is always a solution. It is just a matter of time and effort before we find that solution"

Seeing the affectionate exchange between Raj and his grandson Charlus gave a sad smile and said "What Raj said is true Harry. There will always be a solution for every problem. But before that we have one more problem. We need to get rid of those bindings on your magical core. Send a letter to goblins for an appointment tomorrow morning"

"I understand how to make a horcrux Charlus, but what I don't understand is how Harry became a horcrux" asked Raj.

"If I'm not wrong, then this Voldemort came after my son and his wife and intended to make a horcrux by their murder but since his killing curse bounced off Harry due to Lily's sacrifice, his soul shattered and a tiny piece latched onto the only living creature in the room making Harry into a unintended horcrux" said Harry's grandfather in a grave voice.

Harry nodded his head, realising the sacrifice his mother did to protect him and started crying softly against his uncle's shoulder. It took Harry a few more minutes to finally get control of his emotions.

Then he raised his head and asked "I have a question grandfather. If, in order to create a horcrux, all one had to do is perform a little ritual and then kill someone in cold blood, then I'm sure there are quite a number of people who created horcruxes by now" a little confused.

"Normally you would be quite right in your assessment Harry. But you are forgetting a basic principle of Magic. There is no Dark or Light magic, only the intent behind a spell and like any dark magic, even behind the making of a horcrux, the maker's intention should be evil. But what elevates a horcrux from normal Dark Magic is that one need to maintain the intent even after creating a horcrux as long as the horcrux remains. If the caster cannot maintain his/her intent after creating the horcrux then it will fail and the creator's soul will remain fractured forever" said his grandfather in a grave voice

Mulling over the answer his grandfather said, the more he thought about the explanation on intent behind magic the more it made sense to him. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss before we move for dinner?" asked Harry.

"Actually there is Harry. You remember the last time when Dumbledore visited us in our magical tent where he tried to take you back to Dursley's and then you left us after your outburst?" said Raj.

Harry nodded at his uncle, remembering that event where he shouted at Dumbledore and then left and by the time he came back Dumbledore left them, wondering where his uncle is going with this.

Before Raj could continue Charlus interjected and said "I think it would be better if you showed him the memory of what happened" and asked Patty to bring him a pensive.

Patty brought the pensive and Raj submitted his memory of the event to it and gestured Harry to dip his head inside the pensive. Once inside the pensive, all around Harry black wisps of smoke began transforming into the scene where his uncle and Dumbledore having argument/conversation. Pensive Harry just stormed out of the tent and Dumbledore turned to Raj.

" _Is what Harry said is true? Did they really abuse him?" asked Dumbledore in a voice little more than whisper_

" _It is true professor. When I met him, he was ready to go with me, just so he can get away from his relatives. What 7 year old kid gets ready to leave with a relatively stranger if he has a good family? He did not just ask me professor, he almost begged me to take him away. Now you can imagine how his life is" said Raj in a grave voice._

" _I'm sorry Harry had to endure all this. I will talk to his relatives. I'm sure they will see reason. Harry has to stay with Dursleys for his own protection. Please, I implore you to see reason with me" said Dumbledore in his grandfatherly voice._

" _For whose protection are you asking Mr. Dumbledore? Harry's? or Yours? I may not be able to able to speak to others about Harry's present location or his living conditions but I can and will raise concern over the protection of a Wizarding world's hero on international forum. Maybe you forgot, but Lily Potter used to be a close friend to the daughter of his Majesty of Magical India and when she does learn of the situation of her friend's son, she will not even hesitate to even wage a war against your country to get him. In fact, I don't even need to go that far, what do you think will happen when news gets out about the treatment of their National hero here in Wizarding Britain? How do you think the public will react? If you want to avoid all these things to happen Headmaster, I suggest you do as Harry asked you and relax those compulsion charms around him allow him to move freely and interact with other Witches and Wizards" said Raj in a threatening voice._

 _With a flick of his wrist, Dumbledore pointed his wand at Raj's face and said" Harry cannot have contact with the Wizarding world yet. He is not yet ready for all these things. He needs to have a normal childhood. I'm sorry I had to resort to this Mr. Choudary, but Harry has to stay with his relatives. All I do is for greater good" and said 'Obliviate'. With that a green light flashed from his wand and hit Raj across his face._

 _As soon as the green light struck Raj across his face the little medallion around Raj's neck shone brightly and reflected the memory charm back to Dumbledore where it struck across the old wizard's face, the force of which flung him in the back several feet._

 _Dumbledore woke up groggily after a few seconds and looked around. When his eyes met Raj's eyes the wizened wizard's eyes widened for a moment and crawled toward him desperately and said "S..save me. . .th. .this is not me. My ring. . .not a ring. S. .save Fawkes and Hogwarts. Grinde. . . ."._

 _Dumbledore was cut off as the ring on his right hand gave out a dazzling light and covered the entire figure of Dumbledore for a few seconds. By the time light subsided around the old wizard, he was heavily panting. He took a few moments to gather himself and got on his feet and asked Raj "What happened?" his eyes narrowing in doubt._

 _Whatever Raj thought would happen, that was not in his mind. And when the man in question asked him 'What happened' Raj came to a conclusion that whoever in front of him is not Dumbledore or that Dumbledore is possessed by some dark magical artefact and he is frantically searching for a suitable answer so as not to raise any suspicion. Finally making up his mind Raj replied in a furious tone "What happened is that you tried to obliviate me Mr Dumbledore and you just signed a one way ticket to Azkaban. Attacking a foreign embassy official is a crime punishable by death. Since you are also a high ranking official, maybe your death penalty will be changed to life sentence. But I will try my level best to make your life a living hell Mr Dumbledore. Of that you can be sure"._

 _Sighing in relief that the man in front of him did not suspect any foul play, Dumbledore in a grandfatherly voice said "Wait Mr Choudary. I'm sure this is all just a big misunderstanding. It was not my intention to cause you any harm. I'm merely concerned about Harry's safety and wellbeing. Last few days have been very grating on my nerves, what with Harry being missing from his Aunt's house and all. I can assure you Mr Choudary, it is just a momentary lapse of judgement on my part and I will not repeat it again."_

" _Save your breath Mr Dumbledore. You can yap all you want in front of your Wizengamot when I present my case to them. There you can say in your grandfatherly tone whatever you would like to say"_

" _Are you sure such a drastic action is necessary Mr Choudary. I'm sure we can come to some sort of compromise. After all, this is my country's Wizengamot we are speaking and it will be my word against yours"_

 _Raj thought about his words. True, if he goes public with this incident there will be a political back-lash. But at the same time Harry's involvement in all this will come to light and his living conditions can be used by darker factions of Wizengamot to further their pureblood agenda. Dumbledore will use his influence to escape punishment and then Raj would be forced to return to his country owing to security reasons, leaving Harry alone to these vultures._

 _Seeing Raj deep in thought Dumbledore pushed and eagerly said "I see you are thinking about what is said Mr Choudary. So do we have a compromise and leave this be?"_

" _Don't be so full of yourself Mr Dumbledore. It maybe my word against yours in your country. But if I involve my government in this matter, things will be on completely different level. Maybe you forgot, but I'm second in line to lordship of a Most Ancient and Noble house and the word of my house carries a lot of political weight internationally"_

 _Raj let Dumbledore mull over his words for a few seconds and then said "That being said, I am willing to reach a compromise with you"_

 _Albus nodded his head slowly at this, not sure what his demands to reach a compromise would be replied "I'm listening Mr Choudary"_

" _First and foremost, I want you to take down all the wards you placed on Harry and his Aunt's house this very moment. Secondly, I want you to relinquish your job titles such as 'Supreme mugwup of International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of Wizengamot and Head Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'. If you can fulfil my conditions, then we can have an accord"_

 _Dumbledore weighed his options. He can easily relinquish his Supreme Mugwup and Chief Warlock titles and appoint some puppet and pull their strings. As soon as his obliviation failed against Raj, he realised that he can no longer place Harry with their relatives, so despite his reservations about that he had no choice on that matter so he had to agree with that. It is his position as Head Master of Hogwarts that is most important to him. From his position as Head Master he can easily influence Harry and other students and make them his puppets._

 _Making up his mind Dumbledore replied "If that is what you want for my momentary mistake Mr Choudary, then that is what I will pay. I will remove all the wards around Harry and his Aunt's house and relinquish my titles of Supreme Mugwup and Chief Warlock. But the Head Master position is something I cannot give away so easily. You see Mr Choudary, I'm a scholar and a teacher at my heart and teaching is where my passion lies. That is the reason I cannot give up my Head Master position. I'm sure you can do this old man this small favour"._

 _Raj knew that he already got more than he bargained for. When he saw Dumbledore enter his tent, he never thought that he will be able to make him remove the wards around Harry, let alone strip him of two of his titles. But still, his position as Head Master is troubling him. Dumbledore will be in position to influence Harry for the next seven years and what happened earlier made him doubt Dumbledore even more. Something is wrong with the man and he did not want Harry anywhere near the old Wizard. But Raj knew that he was already threading on thin ice. If he stubbornly pushed Dumbledore further, then it may backfire on him. Finally making up his mind he replied "Alright Mr Dumbledore, you can keep your position as Head Master. But I want a magical oath from you that you will be doing what we agreed. I want you to remove the wards by the time you leave from here and I want you to relinquish your titles by next week and these are not negotiable"_

" _Is a magical oath really necessary Mr Choudary? I'm sure . . ." he was cut off by Raj. "That is absolutely necessary Mr Dumbledore. You give your oath or we have no deal" he said with an air of finality in his voice._

 _Dumbledore finally relented and gave his magical oath with Mrs Figg as his witness._

The memory is completed and the characters in the memory turned back to wisps of black smoke and he returned from the pensive.

Harry's mind is reeling from the information he is just made aware of. His future Headmaster tried to obliviate his uncle and send him back to his relatives and it was thanks to his uncle's cunning moves which were worthy of a Master Slytherin, he is able to learn of his heritage and find his real home. Harry immediately flung himself into his uncle and with a tear stained face muttered "Thank you uncle. Thank you. . . thank you so much for saving me" over and over.

"Don't mention it Harry. I already told you that I will never let anything happen to you while I'm still around. I'm merely keeping up my promise"

Reluctantly Harry left his uncle and asked "Dumbledore said something when was hit by his memory charm. What did he mean by that uncle?"

"We do not know Harry. All I could understand from what he said is that he is not what everyone seem to be and that Fawkes, which is his phoenix and Hogwarts is in some kind of danger. We need to research more about what he said. But don't worry. He cannot do anything to you because once you make your presence publicly known, people will question if something is to suddenly happen to you"

Harry nodded his agreement to his uncle and said "If you are sure about it uncle"

"Yes I'm sure Harry. Now Patty will show you your room. Go fresh up and come down. We will have dinner and then write to the goblins".

Observing young Harry leave the library, Charlus said "Harry is very lucky you found him you know. And the House of Potter will forever be in your debt".

Raj shook his head negatively and said "It is actually the other way around. Harry's become like a son I never had and I will gladly face anything for his safety. We had a tiring day today and if we have nothing more to discuss, I would like to go have a nice hot steam bath and then have dinner with Harry"

"Of course, of course. Have a nice dinner. Good night Mr Choudary" said the portrait of late Lord Charlus. Raj too bid his good night to Charlus and left for his room.

Harry barely took notice of his room and mechanically took a bath and came down to wait for his uncle. Raj came after a few minutes and Patty started serving them the dishes.

Dinner at Potter Manor continued in a pensive mood. After completing the dinner affair Harry and Raj moved a small study adjacent to foyer to write the letter to the goblins. After sending the letter to goblins Raj turned to Harry and said "Why the long face Harry? Nothing is lost. We will find a solution to all your problems. I will not say that your journey will be simple, but I can say that you will not be doing your journey alone Harry. You will have me and your grandfather and any future friends you are going to make. All is not as lost as it appears to be Harry"

Harry nodded to his uncle, feeling a little of his burden decreased on hearing his uncle's words and said "Thank you uncle. I will try my level best to face my future and become strong so that no one will have to risk their lives for me"

"That's good to hear. Now you go and have a good night sleep. Tomorrow we need to visit the goblins to remove the bindings. Good night Harry"

Harry gave a hug to his uncle and said "Good night to you too uncle" and left to his room. Just as Harry opened his room door green flames burst and Jade appeared in front him and said

 _§§Masssster, you are feeling dissstresssed. Why Massster§§ said Jade crawling up to her Master_

 _§§Hello Jade. Ssssorry I didn't call you asss sssoon asss I got here. I had a hectic day and jussst forgot about you§§_

 _§§No problem Massster. I came asss sssoon ass I sssensssed your dissstress. What happened Massster§§_

Harry regaled what happened that day to his familiar. By the end Jade curled herself around his waist and lovingly slithered her forked tongue on Harry's face and said _§§Do not worry Massster. I will be here with you till the end§§_

 _§§Thank you Jade. That meansss a lot to me. Good night Jade§§_

Jade made herself under Harry's blanket and slithered to her mater _§§Good Night Massster§§_

* * *

 **Now there's your chapter. That's it for now. I request all the readers to please read and leave me a review or a PM. Your suggestions make a world of difference to me. Thank you all**


	7. Two steps forward, One step backward

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Characters belonging to Harry Potter book series are sole property of JK Rowling. Other character appearances are purely fictional.**

* * *

 **Here's another chapter. Read and enjoy**

* * *

 **Chapter 5 : Two steps forward, One step backward**

 **1** **st** **August, 1991**

 _§§Good morning Massster§§_ rasped a green scaled reptile.

 _§§Mmm. . . Good Morning Jade. Had a good night sleep? §§_

 _§§Yes Massster. It wasss warm under blanket with you bessside me§§_ replied the reptile, still coiling around Harry's neck

 _§§Glad I could help. Although, you sssshould ssstop calling me Massster. You can call me Harry, Jade§§_

 _§§Massster is massster. Why would I call you anything elssse Massster§§_

 _§§Yesss I know Jade. But since I'm calling you by your name, you should call me by my name§§_

 _§§Massster calls me Jade becausssse Massster gave me that name. I call you massster becaussse you are Jade'sss massster§§_

 _§§Urgg. . .you know what, jussst leave it. You can call me anything you like§§_

 _§§Yesss Masssster§§_

Just as Jade finished, a small pop is heard accompanied by the appearance by a small squeaky little creature. Hearing the sudden pop sound Jade bared her teeth and hissed at the small creature making the creature squeak and throw an elf curse at the snake. Jade slithered side ways to avoid the curse and leaped at the small creature from Harry. The little creature squealed at the sudden onslaught and began to wright as the snake began to coil around it.

Just as Jade bared her teeth again to bite the little creature Harry jumped in and caught Jade's head and forcefully shut her mouth with his both hands and bellowed a 'STOP', which halted both their movements.

"Jade, uncoil from Patty. Patty, don't throw curses at Jade. She is my familiar and she will be living here with us. Jade, this is Patty. She is the head house-elf and she will also be living here with us. So say sorry to each other" said Harry leaving no room for discussion.

Jade slowly uncoiled herself from Patty and slithered back to Harry and coiled herself around his neck and hissed her sorry to Patty to which the little house elf squeaked again held on to Harry's legs tightly.

Harry sighed and peeled Patty from his legs and said "Patty, don't be afraid of Jade. She is my familiar and she will not harm you. She just said sorry to you. I think you should do the same"

"Patty be sorry to Master's snake friend. Patty be not knowing that the snake is Master's friend. Patty be ready to take any punishment Master gives to Patty" squeaked the little house-elf still trembling from fear.

Harry frowned on hearing it and said "Patty, look here. This is just an honest mistake. There is no need for any punishment"

On hearing Harry the little house-elf wailed loudly, tears streaming from its large saucer like eyes and said "Master be too kind to Patty. Patty is a bad elf this morning and should be punished for it"

Harry let out a long sigh of breath and said "Listen Patty, I am not going to punish you for what happened this morning. That is not your mistake. Now please stop crying and tell me why you came to me?"

The tiny creature stopped crying after a moment and said "Patty came to wake Master and tell him that Master's uncle be waiting for him in library"

"Thank you Patty. You can go now. I will go meet him as soon as I freshen up"

 **Potter Family Library :**

". . .will be going around 10AM. They already accepted with our terms of discussion and promised utmost privacy and confidentiality regarding our meeting"

"Good Morning uncle, grandfather. Did I interrupt something?" said as he entered the library.

"Good Morning Harry" came the unified reply from both his uncle and his grandfather.

"So. . Why did you want to see me uncle?"

"I was just explaining to your grandfather that we got reply from goblins. They gave us an appointment for 10:30 today. Do you have anything else to do in Diagon Alley? Or can we go directly to Gringotts?"

"Well. . . . I was thinking to do something about all those books about me. Can we file a case against those who are writing and publishing those books?"

"When you go to Gringotts, ask for Potter family solicitor and explain them what you want. They will take care of it" answered Charlus.

"We will do that. Is that all or you have something else Harry?" asked Raj.

"I thought I will look for some books on potion, charms, transfiguration and ancient runes but since I have access to our library I don't need to look for them. So I don't have anything else to do uncle"

"Good then. Let us have our breakfast. Then we can go to Gringotts"

After finishing breakfast, just as they were about to leave to the floo room Raj called out to Harry and presented him a long and thin package and said "Belated Happy Birthday Harry. Since yesterday was a day of emotional burden to you, I thought I will hold on to your gift until you recover from your emotional turmoil. Go on, open you package"

Inside the wrapped package is a long, sleek brown broom, on the bottom end is written 'Nimbus 2000' ".

Seeing his birthday present, Harry barreled into his uncle and started shaking from barely restrained tears straining his cheeks and said "Ttthank you uncle"

Raj hugged him back and said "Any time Harry. Always remember, you are never alone. You have friends and you will make new friends in future. Never feel like you are alone"

Harry nodded, still in Raj's shoulder. They stayed in the same position for a few moments, until Harry regained his bearings and slowly separated from his uncle and said "I forgot that yesterday is my birthday uncle. Thank you for remembering it"

"No problem kiddo. I thought of giving you your present yesterday after we are settled in the Manor. But things got carried away and I could not find an appropriate situation to give you the gift. But now that, that is out of the way, let us be off to Gringotts"

 **Gringotts Wizarding Bank**

"We are here for our appointment with Manager Ironhide" said Harry to the goblin which sat in what can be constituted as a reception area (if goblins have one).

"Welcome Lord Potter, Lord Choudary. Please wait in the adjoining room. Someone will be with you shortly"

They waited for about 2 minutes when a goblin came and escorted them to another room which looked like a conference room of sorts. Inside the room were already 4 goblins sitting in chairs and a contingent of goblin guard. The escort goblin led them to the far end of the conference hall where other goblins are seated and then left the room after bowing to the already present goblins.

King Ragnork III stood from his position and greeted them as "Lord Potter, Lord Choudary. It was truly a surprise when my manager received your letter late at night and informed me of your request. I sure hope that do you understand the consequences if you are wasting our time"

"I assure you King Ragnork that this matter is of utmost importance. Now although I know you will keep the confidentiality of the matter, I must ask you again, are you sure that your kinsmen in this room are your most trustworthy one's" asked Raj

The rest of the goblins bared their teeth at the insinuation but Ragnork held up his hand to his kinsmen and said to Raj "I assure you Lord Choudary that whatever happens in this room will stay in this room. The magics built into this room will see to that"

"Thank you King Ragnork. Do you have a pensive? I want to show you a memory. You will then understand why we are maintaining such a level of discretion on the matter"

Ragnork raised his eyebrow at this, but gestured one of his guards to bring a pensive to them.

Raj deposited his memory of yesterday's meetings with the prisoner Voldemort inside Harry's mind palace to pensive and asked the goblins to view it.

 **Inside Pensive :**

"Where are we Lord Choudary" asked one of the goblins.

"We are inside the mind palace of Lord Potter"

"You mean to say that Lord Potter has already developed a mind palace of this huge. Impressive" said King Ragnork.

As soon as he said that the scenario changed and they came to view the conversation happening between Harry, Raj and prisoner Voldemort. As soon as Ragnork laid his eyes on the prisoner, his eyes became as wide as crystal balls.

As the scene continued and when Harry said that the prisoner is Voldemort, all the blood is drained from the faces of goblins inside the pensive.

As they exited the pensive, they started shouting incoherent words both in English and Gobbledegook (goblin language). Even Ragnork was not faring any better as he was still reeling from the shock presented from the information.

After regaining his composure he turned to look at Harry and Raj and said "Horcrux?"

"Horcrux indeed" replied Raj in a grave voice.

"I now understand why you will want to keep utmost discretion of this matter. If you want, all of us will give necessary oaths of confidentiality, Lord Choudary"

"Thank you King Ragnork. I and Lord Potter think you word is enough oath" replied Raj.

"Thank you for your trust in us Lord Choudary, Lord Potter. Now, we must move on to the next matters. I believe you want to get rid of the soul part of the Dark Lord and those bindings placed on Lord Potter" asked the goblin king, regaining his composure.

"You are right King Ragnork. That is the main purpose of our visit today" replied Harry.

"Very well then. Healer Brodnot will take you to ritual chambers. We shall be there along with other healers in a short time" said Ragnork and left the room, followed by his security detail.

 **Ritual Chamber :**

Harry is instructed to lie down in the middle of a large circle, which further has many smaller circles and triangles which are adorned with various symbols and glyphs and is made to drink a concoction to make him unconscious till the ritual is finished. Thirteen goblins stood in the thirteen smaller circles just outside the ritual circle and started chanting something gibberish in their tongue. As the ritual continued, a green emanated from the triangles and the glyphs in them started to move towards Harry.

As the last of the glyph settled on Harry, tendrils of magic rose from the unconscious body of Harry and glowed brightly before fading into nothingness. After the spectacle is over, the goblins outside the ritual circle burned a purple looking flower and placed it just inside the ritual circle and the chanting grew even more. As the chanting of goblins grew, a purple haze started to form from the burning flower and the smaller circles started glowing and the symbols in them let out a bright orange light.

Suddenly a loud shriek is heard from a grotesque looking face made of smoke just above Harry and it started thrashing around. Blood started to flow from the crooked noses of the goblins that are performing the ritual but the smoke face started thrashing even more. Sensing the losing battle, one of the goblins barked out some orders to others and all of them brandished a ritual blade and cut their palm and dropped thirteen drops of blood on the burning flower in front of them. As the last drop of blood dropped on them, a violent red haze emanated from the brining flower and started to encompass the smoke face above Harry. Seeing this, the smoke faced Voldemort tried to overwhelm the red haze. During the same time, thin tendrils of magic emanated from Harry's body and wound themselves around the wraith dark lord, dragging him back to the scar.

After a few moments of thrashing the black smoke was completely surrounded by red haze like a cocoon, layered by another golden cocoon and descended towards Harry and dissolved into the Scar on his forehead. Black blood began to leak from the scar as the red and gold haze cocooned wraith Voldemort descended into the scar. As the red and gold haze completely dissolves into Harry's scar, all the goblins that performed the ritual promptly fell unconscious.

* * *

Harry groggily opened his eyes and saw some blurred images. He squinted his eyes once more and rubbed them to opened and came face to face with Raj, who has a look of concern etched on his face.

"What happened uncle? Did we succeed? Is the piece of him out of me?" asked Harry.

"How are you feeling Harry? Do you feel pain anywhere?" asked a worried Raj.

"I'm feeling good uncle. Like a burden has been lifted from my shoulder, like I can run 10 marathons and not break a sweat. But there is also this small part of me that feel like I could not access it. I had this same feeling before too, but compared to that what I'm feeling now is very small. But it is still there. So, what happened uncle? Did we succeed?"

"It seems Lord Potter, that we made a slight miscalculation on our part. Our healers did not anticipate that your magical core will dislodge such copious amounts of magic, which interfered in the performance of the ritual" explained the goblin king.

Harry got up from the bed and looked at Ragnork and asked "What exactly happened King Ragnork?"

"Well, as soon as the bindings on your magical core are removed, we proceeded to get rid of the Dark Lord's soul piece in you. Half-way through the second part of the ritual your magical core, which was slightly unstable due to releasing the bindings placed on it, released a large amount of magic, which the wraith Dark Lord used to power himself and almost took hold of your body. But our healers made a sub-sacrificial ritual by offering thirteen drops of blood to the ritual, which powered the ritual, but still not enough to subdue the soul piece. Then your own magic came to your rescue and helped us to contain the soul piece" explained to Harry.

"So. . . the soul piece is still inside me and it is more powerful than before. Is that what you are saying King Ragnork?" asked Harry with a little animosity in his voice.

Ragnork raised his eyebrow at Harry's voice but continued "I wouldn't say more powerful than before Lord Potter. According to our head healer, it lost most of its power while trying to escape".

Harry was about to retort but cut-off by Ragnork saying "It would also seem that the soul piece of the Dark Lord is now completely isolated from your soul and magical core. The healer goblins sacrificed thirteen drops of blood when Dark Lord's soul piece absorbed your magic and started over-whelming the ritual. You may not know, but since we of the goblins are magical creatures, albeit smart creatures, our blood is more potent in magical rituals than any normal witch or wizard. And thirteen is a powerful number when performing soul-based rituals. When 13 drops of blood from 13 different goblins combined with your own magic, which came out in your defence, the soul piece did not stand a chance. According to our chief-healer, that soul piece is locked away and possibly even drained of its power"

Harry perked up on listening to Ragnork's explanation and said "If it lost its power why don't we perform the ritual again and remove it for good this time then?"

Ragnork shook his head negatively and said "For every sacrificial ritual there will always be a price Lord Potter. Since the healers used thirteen drops of blood as sacrifice on their part, as part of your sacrifice, we cannot perform any goblin magic or goblin rituals to heal you anymore"

Harry looked devastated on hearing this. Goblins are considered to be one of the best healers there is and if they say they cannot heal him then who can? These were the thoughts running Harry's mind when he was interrupted from his musings by Raj.

"While it is unfortunate that goblins cannot heal you completely Harry, that does not mean you cannot be healed by others. I know of a few who can heal you now that the soul piece is greatly weakened" said Raj.

Slight hope shone in Harry's face when he heard his uncle say that he can find someone to heal him and said "That is good uncle. When can we go meet them?"

"Unfortunately Harry, it is not that simple. Just after finishing the ritual, you reached your first magical maturity, which is completely unanticipated"

Seeing the confused look on Harry, Raj continued to explain "Every witch or wizard undergoes through three magical maturities Harry. During every magical maturity the core of the said witch or wizard expands and then stabilizes, increasing the power of him/her both in terms of magical reserves and the potent of magic. For an average witch/wizard, normally they undergo their first magical maturity when they are 13-14 years of age and second one when they are 17-18 years of age. The Third magical maturity for every witch/wizard varies depending on the person. It can be anywhere in between 18 to 28 years. No one knows the reason for that. But it is believed that the third magical maturity is more about the mental maturity of a person than it is about magic. And since you reached your magical maturity just now, it is ill advised to, by the goblin healers to try, to do anything for at least two years."

He nodded to his uncle but still skeptically said "If you say so uncle"

Raj frowned at Harry's reply and said "Harry, what have I told you this morning"

"That I will not be alone in my journey"

"Make sure you remember that. One small set back is not going to define our life Harry. We will get you purged of that filth no matter what. It will just take more time than anticipated. Now if you are feeling well, we can discuss other matters"

"I'm good uncle. So what other matters did you want to discuss?" asked Harry.

"Lord Potter, if I may, since we are unable to purge you of the Dark Lord's stench, we of the goblins of Gringotts have decided to give you a boon to show our sincerity to work together with you in future. As of this moment, for any service you will avail of Gringotts, you will be charged only half of the amount for those services"

Stunned by the revelation, it took a few moments for Harry to come out of his stupor. The goblins never gives away anything for free and that they are willing to forgo half of charge for any service he uses of Gringotts, then Ragnork and his goblins must be taking the issue very seriously.

"That was unnecessary King Ragnork. I never doubted the working ethics of you or your goblins. But since Gringotts goblins seen it fit to award me with this great boon, I will take it with utmost honor on my part and thank all the Gringotts goblins" said Harry, coming out of his stupor.

"Think nothing of it Lord Potter. You showed us respect where it is due and for that alone you deserve any boon we might bestow up on you. Now onto the other matters, Lord Choudary mentioned something about procuring a solicitor to file cases of defamation and slander against Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter?" said Ragnork.

"That is correct King Ragnork. I recently came across a piece of information that there are books about me and my supposed 'adventures' when I was away from the wizarding world. And I can assure you that only yesterday was the first time I entered the Wizarding world. All those books are basically lies and fictions, which they are selling off as truth. They do not even publish my full name in those books. All those books are published by the publication house 'Devious Publications'. I want them prosecuted and squeeze them dry to their last knut and sickle. Can you arrange that King Ragnork?" asked Harry, his voice becoming cold and vicious by the time he completed his tirade.

Ragnork smirked at the vicious tone of Harry and said "That can be arranged Lord Potter. We will contact Potter house solicitors. I will owl them today and book an appointment for you tomorrow if that is acceptable for you"

Harry looked to his uncle who nodded and turned to Ragnork and said "That is both acceptable and highly appreciated King Ragnork. I thank you"

"You are most welcome Lord Potter. Now that our business here is concluded, I bid you farewell. May your vaults continue to flow with your enemy's gold"

Harry stood up and said "And may your blades continue to bleed your enemies".

As they left Gringotts, Raj turned to Harry and said "That was beautifully handled Harry. I could not have handled that better myself. Admittedly, for a moment there I thought you would lose your temper when King Ragnork said they failed because of their miscalculation but you handled that beautifully"

Harry blushed under the compliment from his uncle and said "I behaved as you taught me uncle. If you hadn't taught me wizarding culture and etiquettes, then I would have been hopeless and probably offended them a dozen times by now"

"Nah. . you would have managed Harry. But no matter, you behaved as expected of a Wizard of your profile and stature behaves and might I add it paid off handsomely too. Goblins do not give out boons to just about anyone. For them to give one to you, you must have impressed the hell out of them"

Harry blushed even further from the praise of his uncle and tried to change the topic and said "Since my magical core is stabilized now, will you now teach me some of the advanced spells like shield charm, disarming charm and disillusionment charm uncle?"

Raj thought for a minute about it and said "Sure, why not. You already know the theory behind all those spells. So we will practice them after you get your wand"

Harry beamed at his uncle and said "Thank you uncle"

 **Potter Library :**

"That is quite unfortunate, but nothing to worry about. Since it is isolated and cannot influence you or feed on your magical core, we can get rid of it later. Now we must concentrate on what you are going to do next. Have you made your plans for Hogwarts Harry?" asked the portrait of his grandfather.

"Plans? Grandfather" asked a confused Harry.

Raj left Harry at Leaky Cauldron citing that he has some work to do. So Harry is left alone in Potter Manor with the portrait of his grandfather.

"Yes Harry. Plans. Have you made a list of people who you are going to befriend when you finally go to Hogwarts. If my memory serves me right, there will be at least one heir/heiress of a Most Ancient and Noble House and three to four heir/heiress to Ancient and Noble houses and even more for the Noble Houses and other minor houses. If you are to stay safe from Dumbledore, then you should at least be on cordial terms with these people and when the Dark Lord rises, they will be very powerful allies. Especially the Most Ancient and Noble, and Ancient and Noble one's"

After a moment, Charlus skeptically asked "You do know of these houses, don't you?"

Harry huffed at the indignation and said "Of course I know grandfather. What type of Lord will I be if I don't know about the pecking order of the Wizarding world? House Potter is one of the eight Most Ancient and Noble houses in Britain, also known as the founding eight, since it we, with the help of Merlin, founded the Wizengamot after the decline of the rule of the Last Magical King of Europe, Arthur Pendragon. There are 28 such houses which are given the status of Most Ancient and Noble houses when individual magical communities are found across the then Europe, out of which 15 houses are already extinct and out of remaining thirteen, eleven houses are hanging by thread as they have only one heir and no immediate family members who can continue the house. These magical communities further went on to found what today became the 'Internatioanl Confederation of Wizards', which in actuality only has the communities of ancient Magical European Kingdom as its members. In Magical Britain, the Most Ancient and Noble houses of Peverell, Godwin, Gryffindor and Rawenclaw are already extinct and the remaining houses of Potter, Black, Bones and Longbottom each have a single heir/heiress and no immediate family members to inherit in case something happens to them"

"I apologize for the indignation Harry. But seriously, you should make plans on meeting and befriending them. We already have an alliance with the houses of Bones and Longbottoms during the last war. You should first meet with them. I also heard from your uncle that you are already trying to pursue the hand of heiress of the Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass" said his grandfather, the last sentence with a smirk on his portrait face.

Harry sputtered "Pppursuing. . . grandfather! How can you say things like that! Daphne doesn't even like me"

"Daphne is she? You have my blessings to continue your relationship my grandson. I only wish is that you give me great-grandchildren before I pass away for good this time"

"She doesn't even like me grandfather. We met like two times and the second time we met, she shouted at me and ran off" whined Harry.

Charlus chuckled at his grandson and said "Do not worry my grandson. Tomorrow after you meet the solicitor and file a case against that book publishing house, I'm sure she will come around"

"I hope so grandfather. She is the first person I made friends with. I really hope we can be friends again" said Harry silently.

"Grandfather, you said something about passing on for good this time. What was that about? I thought you were already dead?"

Charlus raised his eyebrow at this and said "I said that, didn't I. My original self is already dead. I'm just a live portrait Harry. Live portraits are different from ordinary wizard paintings and photos. In order for a live portrait to work efficiently, we should have the memories of not only our original self's but also their friends and family. It also takes a great deal of time and effort to make a live portrait. The more memories a live portrait has during its creation, the more effective we become"

Seeing Harry take in the information, Charlus continued "Take me for example. In order to make my portrait come alive, it took original Charlus Potter around two years and memories of about one hundred different persons. Even then, we need to be fed with memories from time to time. If not, we will slowly fade away over time. That is the reason you don't see many live portraits around"

Looking at the horrified expression on Harry's face, Charlus again said "Don't worry Harry. I won't fade away any time soon. I still have at least five years before I show any signs of fading away"

"But grandfather, I thought you will stay with me forever, you being a painting and all. Maybe I can give you my memories to sustain you" asked Harry hopefully.

Charlus shook his head negatively and said "It does not work that way Harry. In order for you to give your memories to me, you should know my original self and he should grant you permission to donate them to his portrait, which is me. But like I said, don't worry about those things. I'm won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Now go out and have some fun with your new broom you uncle got you"

Harry nodded his head sadly and said "If you say so grandfather. I'm going to the hippogriff herd and fly with them for some time to clear my mind. See you later grandfather" and left the room.

 **2** **nd** **August,1991 :**

Raj and Harry are having their lunch when Raj asked Harry "Did you get reply from goblins, Harry?"

"Yes uncle. They said that the solicitor will get in contact with us today but we didn't get any owl till now" replied Harry.

"Well, we still have half of the day. Maybe we will receive an owl from them by then" and continued with their lunch.

Suddenly Patty popped in front of them and said "Master Harry, there be a flooing call for you Master"

Harry raised his eyebrow at Patty and said "Ask them to wait for a minute Patty. I will be with them shortly" and left to wash his hands and attend the floo call.

Harry entered the fire place room where an unfamiliar face is visible in the green flames that are going in the fire-place.

"Greetings Heir Potter. My name is Sabastian Grey and I'm the head solicitor for the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter" said the face in the fire.

Realisation dawned on Harry's face and said "Greetings to you too Head Solicitor Sabastian. I thought you will be communicating with us through owl's"

"Normally we would have done that Heir Potter. Can you key me in through the wards so that I can step through" said the solicitor.

"Sure sure Mr Grey. Just give me a minute" said Harry and cut-off the floo call.

"Patty, bring me the ward book please and also inform uncle about our visitor" said Harry to the little house elf.

Harry keyed in his solicitor and a minute later a middle aged man of average height and with a pot belly stepped through the floo and greeted Harry "It is a pleasure to meet you at last Heir Potter. It has been too long since my firm last worked with a Potter" and shook his hand

"The pleasure is all mine Mr Grey. And please call me Hadrian or Harry" said Harry shaking the solicitor's hand.

"They you must call me Sabastian"

"Of course. Let us retire to the living room where my uncle is waiting for us" said Harry.

"Sure Hadrian. Lead the way"

They both made their way to the living room where Raj is waiting for them. After they entered the room Harry introduced them to each other

"Uncle, this is Mr Sabastian Grey, head solicitor for the house of Potter"

"Sabastian, this is my uncle Raja Mahindra Choudary of the Most Ancient and Noble house of Choudary of Magical India"

"Pleasure meeting you Mr Grey" greeted Raj

"The pleasure is all mine Lord Choudary. Although, I didn't realize house Potter has any kind of alliance with House Choudary"

"It's because we don't. At least, not yet. He is a dear friend of my mother and he took care of me in my childhood" clarified Harry and gestured all of them to a couch.

Sitting on the couch, Sabastian said "Oh, I see. Good. Now, Hadrian, the goblins said you had some work for me? May I inquire what it is?"

Harry dove into explaining about how his interaction with Daphne went and then the books he found in Flourish & Blotts and the lies spouted in the books and how he wanted to file cases against them and make them regret for misguiding the public about him.

After 30 minutes of explanation and showing him the books he had of them Sabastian said "Well Hadrian, whatever I had in mind when I was coming here, this is not it. But no matter, we will form an iron-clad case against them. I can assure that we will win this case with the most minimum of difficulties. My law firm will start right away collecting details about the publishing house and their source of information for writing the books"

"Source of information? Aren't all these books nothing but just fiction and lies to have any source of information?" asked Harry with a puzzled expression.

"I agree that most of books are just that, fiction and lies. But you also mentioned that one book is about your adventures in a muggle zoo where you rescued a damsel in distress battling all the cruel and rabid creatures? Don't you think that book has too much in common to what happened in real life? Of course it is a bit exaggerated, but still the situations, the names, all of them are too similar to be a coincidence" said the solicitor.

"Now that you mention, I too had my own doubts but didn't have much time to think about it. I think if you are looking for information source for then you should start with Albus Dumbledore"

"Albus Dumbledore? You mean **the** Albus Dumbledore, Supreme Mugwup of ICW, Chief Warlock of Wizagamot and Headmaster of Hogwarts? Why would Dumbledore have anything to do with Lord Potter?" asked a confused Sabastian.

"Yes, the same Dumblebore. Although, he does not have the first two posts anymore. At least he won't have for long. But coming to the point, Dumbledore had an unnatural interest in Harry's life. It is he who placed him in muggle house-hold against his wishes without consulting anyone" said Raj.

"How do you know he won't stay as Supreme Mugwup or Chief Warlock any longer Mr Choudary? And why will Dumbledore place Heir Potter with a muggle house-hold? The entire wizarding community thought that he is at a safe-place being trained as the boy-who-lived" said Sabastian, narrowing his eyes in doubt at Raj.

"I'm afraid I cannot say anything about that Mr Grey. At least, not until you give us an oath of confidentiality" replied Raj.

Sabastian tried to protest against it but finally relented when Harry put down his leg hard, saying that there will not be any further dealings with the house of Potter with his law firm if he did not give him an oath of confidentiality.

After giving the oath, Harry got on into another explanation frenzy about his childhood, even going so far as to show him some memories. Finally after about 3 hours of explanations and memory viewing in pensive, we find the trio still sitting in the same position, both Raj and Harry sipping coffee and Sabastian holding his head, still reeling from the information exposure.

"That bastard. I always thought something about him is a little bit off but never in seven depths of hell did I think that he would degrade himself to such a level. The worst part about it is that we cannot move against him as he is too powerful for us to take on him yet"

"That is what we thought too Mr Grey. Now how long will it take to make a move against the publishing house?" said Raj, steering them back to the main topic.

"Well, I think by the end of this month my firm can build a solid case against the 'Devious Publications' and move against them. That is only the first step though. If you want to start seeing results, it will take anywhere between 6-9 months. I can assure you that by the time you complete your first year at Hogwarts we will have won this case against them" replied Sabastian confidently.

"Excellent Sabastian. I will trust you and your firm to make sure justice is delivered to me" said Harry.

"Of course Hadrian. You can be sure of that. Now if there is nothing else, I will take my leave. I will contact you after we gathered enough information to build a solid case against them" said the solicitor, getting up from his couch.

"I thank you again for accepting to take up my case Sabastian" said Harry, he too getting up from his couch.

"Nonsense Hadrian. That is what we are for. But I thank you all the same" replied Sabastian, leaving the Potter Manor through the floo.

"Well, now we have one less thing to worry about" said Raj standing in the door-way.

"Yeah, you are right uncle" said Harry

"So, we still have few good hours before we can retire to bed. What do you say about practicing potions a little bit more?"

"That sounds fine uncle. I am still reading my mother's notes on potions I found in my parents room. I must say, my mother is a genius. For almost every potion I'm going to learn at Hogwarts she made notes to lessen the time taken to brew the potion or increase the potency and life-span of the potion. I wish I can one day become like her"

Raj smiled at Harry and said "You are already similar to Lily in ways you don't know Harry. Now, let us go to the potions lab. You grandfather mentioned that it is located in the basement. We should probably call Patty and ask her to clean the lab beforehand"

"Yeah, you are probably right. Who knows how long ago that lab is last used" said Harry and called Patty to clean the lab and both of them made way to the basement.

 **3** **rd** **August, 1991 :**

Harry woke up to the sensation of something coiling against his right leg. He shot up due to the unfamiliar movement in his bed and threw open his blanket to find a 5 foot long green scaled serpent sleeping in his bed.

Harry tentatively said "Jade?" Slapping his face again, he said _§§Jade? Is that you§§_ in parseltongue.

 _§§Mmm. . .good morning Masssster§§_

 _§§Good Morning to you too Jade. Wow. . .you grew in length from last night§§_

 _§§Did I Massster? I don't know. We Basssilliskssss grow up faster than normal ssssnakesss§§_

 _§§Oh that'ssss good Jade. The bigger you grow, the lessssser chance anyone can harm you§§_

 _§§Thank you Masssster. Do you mind if I ssssleep for a little longer? §§_

 _§§Not at all Jade. You can ssssleep asss long asss you want. I will proceed to freshen up and head down for my morning work-out. Ssssee you later Jade§§_ said Harry and left to bathroom and then proceeded to do his normal morning workout.

As Harry reached his 3 mile mark, his uncle joined him and together they continued running for another 3 miles, varying their speeds. After completing their post-running stretches, Raj turned to Harry and said "So Harry, are you excited to get you own wand today?"

"Of course uncle. The wand you gave me is good and all but I've been waiting for a wand made solely for me" replied Harry, still toweling himself from the sweat of their morning work-out.

"Good then. Now let's proceed to your next phase of morning work-out. Dodging" said Raj and without warning took out his wand and started shooting low powered stinging hexes at Harry.

Harry, already used to his uncle's morning routine is ready to dodge the hexes flying towards him. A few minutes into the dodging practice, Raj started to banish near-by rocks and sand towards Harry and also increased the power of the hexes.

Harry, not expecting the sudden increase in the intensity of their dodging exercise, got hit a few times by some hexes and small rocks. In the heat of moment, Harry too took out his wand and started throwing hexes at his uncle and also started block any rocks that came his way. After another 40 minutes of grueling dodging and banishing exercise we find Harry lay on the grass, sweating bullets and panting heavily. His uncle sat beside him and said "You are improving Harry, especially after we removed the bindings on you. Normally you would have been exhausted after the first 20-25 minutes but today you managed to hold for about 40 minutes against me, that too by hexing me and blocking some of the rocks I threw at you. Why don't you reach out for your core now. I bet it increased and stabilized by now and will be more accessible"

After a few more minutes Harry finally caught his breath and said "Yeah, you're probably right uncle. I already planned on it. I will just do it now"

Harry sat in his usual meditative position under the shade of a tree and after a few breathing exercises he evened his breath and started to reach out his magical core. Normally he would feel his core after a few more minutes in to his meditation. But this time, he could feel his core just a few seconds into his meditation. Like his uncle said it got bigger, not in a physical sense, but he could feel it has gotten much bigger and powerful. As he reached out to his core, he could feel it reaching out to him and a warm feeling spread throughout his body. As he delved deeper into the feeling, he could sense something lurking deep within his core. Something like a mini-core inside his magical core.

When he tried to get hold of it, it went even deeper inside his core. Harry delved deeper, trying to chase after it. When he finally got hold of this mini-magical core, it instantly latched onto him and he could feel power seeping through his veins. The power felt somehow familiar but having an ancient feeling to it. The more he delved into the feeling, the more warmth he could feel from the power. After a few more minutes of basking in the warmth feeling, Harry felt someone calling him from outside but disregarded the it.

After a few seconds he felt ice-cold splash against his entire body. He jumped up from his meditative position with a loud yelp and saw his uncle pointing his wand at him and shouted "What the hell uncle? Why did you drown me in cold water? That was not funny at all!"

 **A few minutes earlier :**

Raj sat against the tree and looked over to Harry. The boy improved a lot, from the easily frightened, scrawny looking boy to a 4"10' boy. No, not boy, a man in making. Harry always exceeded any expectations he had for him. He always had a hunger for more knowledge but not just bookish knowledge but practical knowledge too. He always looked to make use of his knowledge in daily life. His levitation exercise is one of those. Daily after morning physical work-out and dodging practice he selects a small boulder and start levitating it. After levitating it a few minutes he proceeds to a bigger boulder and continues till he can feel exhaustion creeping to him. Now-a-days it looks like he found when he is going to collapse from exhaustion and stops just before that. Raj didn't say it to Harry yet, but he already completed all of 1st and 2nd year curriculum of Hogwarts and already started 3rd syllabus. Raj need to inform that to him soon and then work with him to create a work-sheet for him to do for his time at Hogwarts. If there isn't the stupid rule that all Lords and Ladies of Magical Europe should study at least 6 years in one of the three premier schools of Magical Europe namely _Hogwarts_ , _Beauxbatons or Drumstrang_ and get at least 8 OWL's or equivalent from these schools, he would have whisked Harry to his country where he will be safe from all these morons.

When Raj casually looked towards Harry, he saw little smoke rising from his clothes. Raj continued to watch him when all of a sudden he started burning in fire. Bright orange flames enveloped Harry and when Raj tried to call out to him he did not respond. He tried an Aguamenti spell but before water reached him, they evaporated leaving a stunned Raj. He regained his bearings and again fired Aguamenti spell putting more power into the spell and this time the ice-cold water him Harry straight in his face, drenching him completely.

The boy in question let out a loud yelp and started shouting "What the hell uncle? Why did you me drown in cold water? That was not funny at all!"

Raj lost his composure for a minute there and return shouted "Funny you should say that Harry. A minute earlier you were engulfed in searing hot flames and you say that what I did is funny? Of course it's not funny to see to you suddenly set ablaze yourself"

Harry is stunned by his uncle's sudden outburst for a moment and then said "What are you talking about uncle? I'm perfectly fine albeit a little cold. I'm not on any fire"

Raj let out a long breath and said "Harry, a few minutes earlier you caught fire all of a sudden. I called you a few times but when you didn't respond so I shot water at you to try to put out the flames. If you don't believe me then look at yourself and you will understand what I'm saying"

Harry looked at himself and is startled to find that he no longer has any clothes on him. He shot both his hands to cover his crotch and with a bright red face he asked "What happened to my clothes uncle?"

Seeing Raj laugh at his condition Harry again shouted "It's not funny uncle. Stop laughing at me"

Raj conjured a full length cloak for Harry to wear, who took it and then asked in a serious tone "Ok Harry, fun time is over. What the hell did you do? Why did you suddenly got caught on fire?"

Seeing the serious look on his uncle's face Harry said "I. .I . . I don't know uncle. Today when I tried to feel my magical core, I found it rather easily and then I delved even more into that feeling and that is when I found something different within my core. When I tried to feel for it, it tried to escape from my grasp. When I finally caught on to it, I felt a warmth coursing through my veins. Whenever I feel for my core I always feel a warmth feeling but somehow this new warmth felt different. Something about it felt intimately familiar to me. I was basking in that warm feeling when you fired cold water at me"

"A different warmth feeling and intimately familiarity eh?"

Raj raised his hand to his chin and contemplated for a few seconds and with a laugh he said "I have not idea what that feeling you got. But you know what Harry, if I stay with you for a few more years I'm pretty sure I'm going to get grey hairs due to the situations you put me through"

Harry glared at his uncle and said "I never put you through any difficult situations uncle"

"Oh really! They what about that time when you tried brew a cure for boils with your own special ingredients?"

"It looked harmless at the moment. Who would have thought adding horn of bicorn with dragon drool will get such an explosive result?"

"Then what about that time when you tried to levitate 2 tonne boulder and then ended up with severe magical exhaustion?" countered Raj

"I didn't know that levitating a rock will be that difficult" said Harry defensively

"Well then what about the time when you . . " Raj was cut-off by Harry saying "Alright, alright, maybe there are a few cases where I did something which I'm not proud of"

Raj raised an eyebrow and said "Few cases you say"

Harry huffed and said "Alright, a little more than few cases. Happy? Now can we move on to what happened to me when I was feeling for my magical core?"

"I don't know anything about it Harry. Maybe your grandfather can explain about it. Maybe it is a secret trait of you family" said Raj

"Hmm. . . maybe. Then let's go and tell grandfather what happened" and Harry started running towards the Manor, Raj trailing behind him.

 **Potter Library :**

"You caught on fire which burned the clothes you're wearing but you did not have any burns from it?" asked the portrait of Charlus.

"Yes grandfather. I didn't have any burns. Do you think maybe it is our family secret trait or something?"

"I don't think so. We never had any kind of special powers like you told me, at least not that I know of. Can you show me this fire you are speaking of?" asked Charlus.

"I will try grandfather. I only summoned the fire by complete accident. Like I told you earlier, I did not even know that I was caught on fire until uncle shot water at me" said Harry glaring at Raj.

Raj chuckled at Harry and said "Maybe trying it in Library is not such a good idea Lord Charlus. Why don't we all move to the basement and then try out Harry's new power"

"That's an excellent idea uncle. Patty!"

The little house-elf popped infront of the trio. Harry ordered Patty to take his grandfather's portrait to the basement and he and Raj followed them.

"Harry, I want you to concentrate that feeling in your hand. Don't worry, I will be here and I will douse the fire you summon if looked like it got out of control" said Raj.

Harry nodded and put out his hand forward and started to concentrate on that feeling he got while meditating. He stayed in that position for another 15 minutes but of no avail. After another 15 minutes, Harry finally got a little feel of his hidden power and light smoke started to rise from his hand. A few more minutes later his hand gained a glowing red color but he could not summon any fire and then he collapsed from exhaustion.

Seeing him collapse, Raj rushed forward and caught Harry before his head hit the floor and scooped Harry in his arms and laid him on his bed in his room. Patty popped and handed Raj a bowl of cold water and a clean cloth. He laid the cloth on Harry's forehead and started rubbing another cloth through his hand and chest.

At the same time Jade slithered out of the blankets towards Harry. She looked towards Raj for a few seconds and then promptly coiled herself on him as best as she could.

Raj thought for a moment that the snake is going to attack him but when she coiled herself on Harry, Raj breathed a sigh of relief and replaced the cloth on his forehead with another one.

Half-an-hour later Harry gained consciousness and felt a weight on his stomach. He opened his eyes and found Jade sleeping on him. He looked around and found that he is in his room.

"You gave us a fright there Harry"

Harry turned around and came to see Raj sitting on a chair beside his bed.

"What happened uncle?" asked Harry groggily.

"It looks like that new power of yours is going to take a lot more time and effort than we initially thought. You lost consciousness after trying to summon that fire and then I brought you here"

Harry rubbed his back sheepishly and said "Well, I guess, thank you uncle"

Raj waived it off and asked "Have you recovered or do you need more rest?"

Harry closed his eyes for a bit to feel for his core and then said "I'm fine uncle. I can feel that my magical core is already filled half way. I think by next hour or so my magical core will be fully replenished"

"You are recovering faster than before. Get ready soon. Today is the day we get your own wand" said Raj getting up from his chair and leaving his room.

Harry's face lit like a decorated Christmas tree when he heard his uncle say that and immediately jumped from his bed, knocking Jade, who is still resting on him, over to the floor. The basilisk hissed at her master for interrupting her nap and crawled up to his bed and went back to her sleep.

Harry apologized to his familiar and rushed to his bath and got ready in record time. He sprinted through the stairs and came to a screeching halt at the dining table where his uncle is having his breakfast.

Looking up at Harry, Raj chuckled and said "Someone looks a bit more over-enthusiastic about something"

Pulling a chair for himself, Harry huffed at his uncle and said "Of course I'm over-enthusiastic. It's not every day that you get your own wand, is it. I bet you were just as much enthusiastic as I am when you were getting your own wand"

"I was happy, yes. Over-enthusiastic like you, No"

Harry stuck out his tongue at his uncle, who smiled at him, lost in his thoughts. Sometimes he forgets that, all things considered, Harry is still an eleven years kid. Sometimes Harry is so serious that he resembles a grown up person and it fills his heart with joy when Harry just acts like a typical eleven years old.

Raj is cut out from his musings by Harry who completed his breakfast and is waiting for him. They crossed the foyer and entered the fire place room. Raj turned to Harry and said "Harry, why don't you try the glamour charms I taught you recently. It will be a good practice for you"

Harry nodded to and pointed his wand at himself and incanted a few charms to change his skin color from white to pale brown, his eye color from deathly-green to black and his raven black hair to brown. Raj examined Harry's glamour for a few minutes and finally said "Well done Harry. Your glamour could use a little bit more touch but it is still very good for your first try outside practice. Now I will cast you one more charm on you so people will not notice anything different about you"

Raj pointed his wand at Harry and said _'non animadverto'_ as a purple light hit him.

"What does that do uncle?"

"That charm I cast on you makes people who look at you feel nothing is wrong with you, even if you look a bit disoriented, like having two different eye colors or like your clothes are torn somewhere or you have some stains on you. It is also known as 'Chameleon's eye'. It is a variation of notice-me-not charm" explained Raj.

"Sounds useful to me. Will you teach it to me uncle?"

"That will be one of many spells and charms you will be learning till you go to Hogwarts"

"Thank you uncle. Shall we move on to get my wand or do you have something you want to show me?"

"Getting impatient, are we?" Seeing the pink tint on Harry's cheeks, Raj chuckled and said "Alright. Let's go then"

 **Diagon Alley (Olivander's shop):**

"I was wondering when you will be stepping in to my shop again Mr Potter" came a voice behind him.

Harry gave out a little yelp and said "If you keep doing that for everyone who comes to your shop, you will scare quite a few customers Mr Olivander. It's quite creepy to be honest"

The old wand maker gave out a boisterous laugh and said "But it is such a fun my dear boy. Now let us waste not any more time. I presume you came here for your wand?"

"You would be correct in your presumption Mr Olivander. If you are finished making it, may I see my wand?"

Olivander rushed to the back of his shop and came holding a purple colored fluffy pillow, on which lay an obsidian black colored wand. The wand maker presented the wand to him and as soon as Harry held the wand in his hand, he could feel a rush of euphoria course through his body and the wand let out green, silver and red sparks.

The wand maker's face lit up like a child who found a candy and clapped his hands together in glee and said "Excellent Mr Potter. Very excellent indeed. That wand there is one of my finest creations till date and I very much doubt that I can out do myself for any other wand. 11 inches, basilisk venom dipped ancient white oak wood with bits of red ruby as magical foci and basilisk fang as core. Very good for battle magic and runic-rituals"

Harry stared at his wand with awe evident in his eyes. He ran his finger across the runes etched along the length of the wand . 7 small red rubies, which are made from the larger ruby Olivander made during their search for wand materials, are fitted seamlessly at different points on the wand. He then pointed his newly acquired wand towards a pile of cardboard boxes and incanted ' _win_ _ **GA**_ _rdium le_ _ **VIO**_ _sa_ ' and the boxes started floating in the air, circling one after the other. After letting them float in air for a few minutes Harry carefully let them down on the ground in the same place as before.

Harry heard clapping behind him and saw both his uncle and the wand maker clapping for him and they came over to congratulate him.

"A well-executed levitation charm Mr Potter. It seems that you had previous practice with another wand Mr Potter" asked an excited wand maker.

Harry looked a bit uncomfortable when the wand maker asked him that. Seeing that his young customer is uncomfortable about his other wand, Mr Olivander said "Do not fear me my boy. In fact I did not even place a trace on your wand. You can practice magic to your hearts content. Just be careful when you perform magic in front of muggles"

Harry cheered a bit at this and said "Thank you Mr Olivander, for not placing a trace on my wand. And I will heed your advice and be care where I practice my magic"

"That is all I can ask of you my boy. Now may I also suggest a wand holster for you. We have various varieties"

Harry looked to Raj who nodded and said "Can you show them Mr Olivander"

Olivander gestured towards a glass case in which several wand holsters are neatly arranged. A particular green one caught his eyes and Harry asked for it.

"Ah, a wand holster made from the hide of a Chinese-fireball. Good taste Mr Potter. It comes with the standard anti-summoning charms along with water and fire resistant charms" explained Olivander.

"I will take it. How much does this and my wand cost Mr Olivander?" asked Harry.

"It will be 23 galleons for the wand and another 12 galleons for your wand holster Mr Potter" answered Olivander.

Harry paid for his wand and wand holster and the uncle and nephew duo made their way for Potter Manor.

When they reached Leaky Cauldron, Raj turned to Harry and said "You go on Harry. I have a meeting with a friend of mine. Don't wait up for me. I will return for dinner"

"Ok uncle" replied Harry and said 'POTTER MANOR' throwing floo power and vanished in the green flames.

Raj turned around and made his way towards Knockturn Alley to meet an old friend of his.

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 **Phew. . . . there is your next chapter.**

 **I request all the readers to please leave a review for my story. Your feedback goes a long way in my story development. Thank you.**


	8. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizard

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Characters belonging to Harry Potter book series are sole property of JK Rowling. Other character appearances are purely fictional.**

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 **A/N: Someone wrote in the reviews, asking for permission to translate my story into other language. I request him/her to send a PM to me so we may discuss the matter.**

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 **Here's another chapter. Read and enjoy**

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 **Chapter 6 : Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

 **White Wyvern (pub) :**

Two men sat opposite to each other, staring at one another, in a dingy old pub in Knockturn alley. One of the persons have a long crooked nose with a permanent scowl etched on his face, with shoulder length greasy black hair and pale white skin and is wearing a long black robes which billows in air when he is walking. The other one with is wearing long full length grey colored robe on top of a t-shirt who has black eyes and brown skin with a serene smile on his face.

Finally after a few minutes the brown skinned man said "You've been very hard to get hold of Snipy"

"Don't call me by that accursed name Raj. Stop wasting my time and come to the point" barked the second person.

"No need to get so antsy Snipy. It's been 12 years since I last saw you. I just want us to catch up with each-other for old time's sake" replied Raj.

Snape let out a frustrated sigh and said "You're not going to stop calling me that name, are you?"

"Oh you know me too well Snipy. So what've been up to in the last 12 years?"

"Get to the point Raj. I don't have all day" said Snape impatiently.

Raj ignored him and continued "Met any special person I should meet?" Seeing the incredulous look on Snape's face, Raj continued "Come on Snipy. Don't tell me you haven't met a single woman who caught your eye!"

Snape looked agitatedly and said "I don't have all day long dallying around like some hormone induced teen that is looking to get in to the pants of opposite sex. Now quit wasting my time and come straight to the point. Some of us have important work to do"

All signs of cheeriness' left Raj's face. He leaned forward on the table and steepled his fingers in front of his face and said "Important work you say. Does that important work include playing secret-spy for Albus Dumbledore?"

A flicker of surprise crossed Snape's normally composed face. He observed Raj carefully for a few minutes and slowly said "I see you've done your homework about me. And I must say very good work at that too. Not many people are privy of that information"

"You didn't expect me to sit idle all this time when Lily died and you went on and managed to entangle yourself in a web of manipulations between two master manipulators, did you?"

Snape let out another sigh of frustration and said "I don't expect you to understand what happened and I don't remember asking for your help"

"And I don't remember offering you any help either" replied Raj, still maintaining his neutral face.

"If you insist on continuing talking in riddles, then I'm afraid this meeting has come to an end" said Snape and made a movement to get up from his chair.

Raj raised his eyebrow at him and reached into his robes and took out a white file and threw it on the table and said "I want you to take a look at it and tell me what you think about it"

Snape looked at the file on the table, contemplating on what to do and finally sat back on the chair and took the file and started scanning the reports in it. After a few minutes he said "This is a poorly done medical report of a seven year old child"

"Ah well, you have to forgive me for that report, seeing as I don't have a healers degree. But go on, continue with your observation"

Snape raised his eyebrow at him but continued nonetheless saying "According to this, the child has a severe case of malnutrition, possible due to starvation, multiple cases of broken and misaligned bones, possible physiological trauma and a number of lacerations on the child's back. Looks to me like a typical troubled orphanage child. I still don't see how that has anything to do with you calling me here"

If Raj heard that last sentence, he did not respond to that and said "What if I said that the child is not an ordinary child and that the starvation, broken bones and lacerations are not accidental but intentional?"

Now that got Snape's interest and said "You are talking about an abused magical child". Seeing the look on Raj's face, Snape continued "And from your facial expression, this child is somehow related to me and there is more to it than some abused case"

Raj nodded and continued "That report is 4 years old and the child I'm speaking is the son of our most dearest and mutual late friend"

Realization dawned up on Snape's face and immediately all of the blood drained from his face and he immediately started hyperventilating. Raj immediately threw up stronger privacy wards and gave Snape some calming draught and cast a cheering charm on him.

Finally coming back to his senses Snape, in a serious tone said "That can't be correct. He is under the care of Albus Dumbledore. He promised me that Lily's child will be safe and will be cared for. That was our deal when I agreed to continue spying for him even after her death", almost choking on his last sentence.

"You can believe what you want to, but I can assure you that Hadrian is neither safe nor well taken care of when he is in Petunia's care"

"Petunia's care? You mean to tell me that Dumbledore placed Lily's child with Petunia's family all this time? Is that old fool has finally gone senile? Petunia and her husband Vernon hated magic. Why would he place him there? And how did you know all this" snarled Snape.

With that Raj went on to explain what he had done this last four years, how he found Harry, how he first interacted with him, and how he trained and taught him about magic and wizarding world. It was after another 2 hours that Raj finally finished his narration to Snape, the two old friends sat silently, each with their own thoughts.

It was Snape who finally resumed their conversation "So basically you rescued Hadrian from the clutches of Dumbledore. Now he is staying behind the safety of the wards of Potter Manor. And he has a piece of Dark Lord in him, which you tried to remove and failed"

Raj nodded at Snape, wondering where he is going with this.

"Since you decided to finally come to me with this information, I assume you have a plan and that you want my help with it? Particularly with information gathering I suppose?"

"If you asking me whether I came here to ask you to spy on Dumbledore and your Death Eater friends for me, then my answer is no. I would never stoop so low as to use my friend's emotional turmoil to bind his loyalty to me".

Seeing the surprised look on Snape's face, he continued "Yes, I know what and how it happened"

Snape analysed Raj for a few more seconds and slowly drawled "I see. And do you plan on telling Hadrian about it?"

"I won't. Lily already wrote about it in one of her personal journals and Harry is reading them. So it is only a matter of time before he found out about it" answered Raj.

Snape's head suddenly shot up when he heard it and almost shouted "What! How could she know about it? I went to Dumbledore and confessed to him after they were murdered by the Dark Lord"

"According to Lily's journal, Dumbledore informed them about there being a prophecy. He did not tell them what it was, but he did tell them that you listened to it. Only, he did not know how much of it you actually heard. That is also the reason they changed their secret keeper from Sirius Black to Peter Pettigrew" replied Raj in an even voice.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Black is the secret keeper and he is also the betrayer of Potters. That is why that bastard is in his prison cell in Azkaban" screamed Snape.

"I've always had my doubts about that. I once visited Lily shortly after Hadrian is born and there she mentioned in passing that Sirius Black and Alice Longbottom are the godfather and godmother of Hadrian respectively and I just confirmed it in one of her journals. So, don't you think Sirius's godfather oaths would have prevented him betraying the Potters?"

On hearing this Snape suddenly shot up from his chair and started pacing around, his hands running over his hair and sputtered "But. . .but. . . Dumbledore said. . ."

Snape was cut-off by Raj saying "You mean the same Dumbledore who left little Hadrian in the abusive hands of Petunia, the same Dumbledore who used your emotional strife to bind you to his loyalty?"

Snape collapsed in his chair and buried his hands in his hands. Years of grief which he squashed deep inside his heart suddenly came rushing to him and tears started to leak from his eyes. Lily has been his best friend and his one true love and he failed her and her son by blindly trusting Dumbledore. His grief gave way to an unbridled amount rage, all of it pointed at an old manipulator. It took all his years of occlumency practise to subdue himself.

After a few minutes of calming himself, he finally droned out "In a few hours you basically shattered my perception of a person who my life is basically centered around. What would you have me do now?"

"Your life is your own Snape. I would never dream to order you around". Snape is about to say something when Raj put up his hand to motion him to stop and he continued ". . but I would like your help in taking down that old bastard"

"Normally I would have jumped at the chance but since the oaths which bound my loyalty to him will not allow me to lie to him, I do not know how much I can be of use to you. Not to mention, he is too powerful, both magically and politically for you to take on him"

"I never said I'm going to be the one to take him down" answered Raj simply.

"Then who i. . . "seeing the look on Raj, Snape sneered "You plan on making Hadrian take on Dumbledore, don't you?"

"Don't take that tone with me Severus. Hadrian is like a child I never had and would never manipulate him to do anything he does not want to do. . . . . . but yes, I've been training him in using magic and teaching him about wizarding world's politics, traditions and customs"

Snape dismissed what Raj said with a wave of his hand and said "Same thing, different words. He is just a child. Even though he is Lily's child, he is also that insolent Potter's child and I bet he will be just as big-headed, reckless and self-centred as his father. And you are basically just goading him to take on . . . . ."

"I would stop right there if I were you Severus" bellowed Raj, his face contorted with anger at his childhood friend.

"You dare accuse him of all those things when you haven't even met him? You dare accuse me of manipulating him when you yourself are one of the persons responsible for the death of the parents of the boy that you accuse me of manipulating? I'm sure Lily would be rolling in her grave at you" Raj said in a voice so cold, that it sent shivers down the potions master's spine.

Seeing the dead look on Snape's face, Raj immediately regretted his choice of words and said "I'm sorry Severus. It is a low bow. I didn't know what came over me when you compared me to Dumbledore. It was not my intention to hurt you"

An awkward silence permeated the table they are sitting at the pub until Snape finally said "I accept and return my own apology in comparing you with him. It is getting late and we both are running high on emotions at the moment. Maybe it would be prudent of us to continue this meeting at a later date and a more secure location"

Raj sighed and said "I suppose it is correct. How does tomorrow at 11'O clock at Potter Manor sound? That way you can meet young Hadrian. After all, he is going to be your student in potions class for the next 7 years"

Snape immediately shouted out a 'NO' and immediately recovered his composure and said "I mean, I already have some unavoidable appointments tomorrow"

Raj arched his eyebrow at his sudden out-burst and slowly drawled out "Right. So, when do you think we should meet then?"

"I will owl you the place and date tomorrow" and with that got up to leave the pub.

"He will forgive you, you know".

Snape stopped on hearing this. Raj continued "Hadrian. He may be angry at you at first, but he will eventually forgive you. The kid isn't type to hold grudges"

Without turning back Snape said "He may, but I will never forgive myself" over his shoulders and left the pub.

 _ **Time Skip 1 month (August 31**_ _ **st**_ _ **, 1991)**_

 _ **Gringotts Wizarding Bank :**_

A large burly man of 7"foot height with big brown bushy moustache and beard wearing a large brown leather trench-coat entered the Gringotts Wizarding bank and made his way straight to the teller at the far end of the central working hall.

Facing the little goblin in front of him, the large man said "Ello there li'l fella. How'ya doin'? I have a li'l somet'ing for ya" and took out a small envelope from his trench coat and gave it to the teller goblin and said "It is abou' ya know wha' in vaul' num'er ya know which"

The goblin took the enveloped and peered into the details it provided and said "Very well. Follow me"

The goblin took the giant man to the goblin vault tunnels and stopped in front of vault number 713. The little goblin opened the vault door and the large man took a small object, wrapped in some rune covered papers and is just about to return to his cart-ride to entrance level when he heard "We are at your locker Mr Potter. Please be quick"

The large man immediately stopped in his steps and without thinking he bellowed out "Potter? Wha' do ya mean Potter? There ain't any Potter excep' li'l Harry and he' safely away wit' Profs'er Dumbledore. That man there is an imposter I tell ya. Catc' 'im"

Harry turned to the source of the voice and found it to be a 7 foot long and very stout man. Both Harry and his teller goblin Griphook shared an amused look. Harry took a step forward and said "I'm afraid I don't know who you are sir. And the same can be said to you too as you obviously don't know who I am"

"Of cours' I know who are. An imposter, tha' is who ya are, a bloody good one if ya can fool this li'l fellas"

Losing his patience, Harry once again said "This is a misunderstanding Sir. Let me introduce myself. My name is Hadrian James Potter, Lord Apparent to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter. And obviously, I'm under a glamour" and with that he quickly waved his wand over himself, instantly changing his appearance to his normal self.

Dumbfounded by the change in appearance, it took the large man a few seconds before he could say "Harry? Is that ya? Wha' 're ya doing here? Are ya lost? Le'me take ya to Profs'er Dumbledore. Come quick. The longe' ya stay 'ere, the mor' danger ya 're in" and made forward to grab Harry's hand.

Harry immediately took a few steps backward and pointed his wand at him, ready to fire spells at a moment's notice. At the same time Griphook came to Harry's protection and pointed a short sword at the large man and said "Mr Hagrid, attacking a vaunted customer of Gringotts is a severe crime and you shall be punished for this transgression. Guards!"

Immediately several goblins came out of nowhere and surrounded Hagrid, all pointing their long spheres towards him. The man in question is gaping like a fish caught out of water at the sudden turn of events.

"Guards, take Mr Hagrid to holding cells, where he will await a trail for his felony. Also take away whatever effects he has on him" commanded Griphook to the goblin security.

"Wai' a minut'. Ya can't do that ta me. What I have with me is strictly between Nicolas Flamel and Albus Dumbledore" shouted the half giant.

"We don't care on whose business you are here Mr Hagrid. You committed a crime in the land of goblin nation and you will be put on a trail for that" bellowed the little teller goblin.

"Teller Griphook, if I may, Mr Hagrid? Are you, by any chance the same Hagrid who works as the keeper of grounds and keys at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" asked Harry

"Ya tha'be me"

Harry nodded at the large man and turned to Griphook and said "Teller Griphook, since the aforementioned crime is committed against me, I would request the goblins not to take any action against Mr Hagrid. He may have acted in haste since this is the first time he has seen me in 11 years, but he is still a dear friend of my deceased parents and I do not want to cause any harm to their friend"

"Be that as it may be Lord Potter, but he committed a crime on goblin land and we cannot leave him be without a proper retribution" replied Griphook.

Harry thought for a minute on how to handle this situation and finally said "I suppose you are right. How does 5 galleons for every minute wasted here, sound for your retribution?"

Griphook rubbed his chin for a few seconds and with a crooked grin he finally said "I suppose we can let go of this infraction as long as the 'every minute wasted' starts from the movement Mr Hagrid entered the tunnels and ends when he steps out of them. And since this is retribution amount you are paying, your boon will not be considered here"

Harry thought for a second and said "I suppose that is fair enough. We have a deal Teller Griphook"

Griphook then ordered the guards to leave Hagrid be. All the goblin guards again disappeared into shadows. Harry turned to Hagrid and said "Please leave the tunnels quickly Mr Hagrid. And I will see you at Hogwarts"

Hagrid nodded dumbly at Harry, still digesting the events happened just a few minutes ago and slowly made his way to the cart-ride. Harry shook his head at the retreating form of the half-giant and proceeded to his vault. After finishing his business in the vault, which consisted of a fair few number of books, the human and goblin duo made their way to their cart-ride.

On the way, Harry turned to his goblin companion and asked "Say teller Griphook, what is Mr Hagrid doing here?"

"We goblins pride ourselves in maintaining the discretion of our clients Lord Potter" replied the little goblin with a crooked grin.

Harry knew that grin all too well. It means a little bit of galleons should be involved in their discussion. So Harry said "I think I won't mind if some amount, say, 20 galleons were to be misplaced from my trust vault and you found and kept them yourselves, for your outstanding services of course" retorted Harry with the same grin

The grin on the goblin's face almost split its face in half and said "I suppose I can tell you that, an important artifact of unknown kind has been placed in vault No 713 by Albus Dumbledore. Mind you Lord Potter, I'm only allowed to share this information because you are one of our vaunted customer and the vault in question has been cleared out earlier by Mr Hagrid"

"Of course Teller Griphook. I know better than to question the integrity and work ethics of goblins. You can take the retribution amount from my trust vault and I will overlook if 20 galleons are misplaced only at that time" replied Harry

The goblin teller nodded at Harry and made their way to cart-ride from where they made to the entrance level. After they made their way to the entrance level, Harry saw that Hagrid is still lurking just outside the main entrance of the bank. He turned to Griphook and asked "Teller Griphook, is there any other way to get out, other than the main entrance?"

The goblin in question raised an eyebrow at him in question. Harry, understanding the questioning look on the goblin's face answered "Mr Hagrid is just outside the main entrance and I do not want him to cause another altercation by our meeting. I hope you can understand"

Griphook nodded and said "Very well, follow me Lord Potter" and took him to one of the side rooms and gestured him to open the door.

"If you take this door, you will come out of the alley just opposite to the Leaky Cauldron. And Lord Potter, this is a one way door, so, do not bother looking for it there"

Harry nodded his thanks and took a step out of the door and true to the goblin teller's word; he did step out of the alley opposite Leaky Cauldron.

 **Potter Manor :**

 **Training room (4PM)**

' _Diffindo, diffindo, incarcerous, expelliarmus'_ shouted Raj continuously.

Harry dodged the first three spells and shouted out a _'Protego'._ The disarming charm got absorbed by the advanced shielding charm and the uncle and nephew duo continued their duel, not caring in the slightest about the destruction they are raining out in the training room.

After another 15 minutes of interchanging spell between them, Raj caught Harry with a well-placed ' _Depulso'._ Harry is hurled backward and landed on his butt with an 'oomphf' sound.

"I believe that is enough practice for today Harry" said Raj, moving toward the downed Potter.

"Huh. . finally. I thought you would never stop our duel" replied Harry, still down on the floor.

"Get up from the floor Hadrian Potter. It is unbecoming of my heir to stay on the floor for so long even after the completion of the duel" bellowed a portrait Charlus

"Yeah? Why don't you try and dodge all those spells for half-an-hour and then proceed to a one-on-one duelling with uncle. He is especially vicious today" replied an irritated Harry, getting up from the floor.

"I wasn't vicious Harry. Today is going to be our last day of our training for quite some time and I wanted to leave a lasting impression on you. Lest you forget what your grandfather and I have been teaching you all this time"

Harry snorted at his uncle and said "I don't think I can forget your lessons even if I want to uncle. They are drilled into my head a bit too hard for me to forget that easily. Moreover, I have a schedule for my time away from you to keep up with"

"Good. Because I would hate it to stop you from going to Hogwarts for another year if you are under prepared to face Dumbledore" replied Raj.

"I think you are exaggerating uncle. Sure, Dumbledore once was a great and powerful wizard but we all saw how he accepted defeat from you after only one misfired spell and gave up most of his job titles for the fear of what you might do to him" answered a slightly cocky Harry.

Raj immediately whirled around and looked Harry in the eyes and said in a severe tone "Listen here Harry, and listen carefully. Dumbledore maybe an old coot but he is no fool. The only reason Dumbledore accepted failure that day is because I was fully prepared for him. The necklace I wore that day not only protected me from obliviation, but also siphoned a significant portion of his power and can send the memory of the event to its counter-part if it's wearer is dead. Moreover, I had anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards set up and several runes inside and around our tent to defend against and attack Dumbledore"

Raj continued "Dumbledore, as soon as he recovered from his misshape, identified his situation and offered me a compromise which he thought to be the most less-damaging solution to him. All in all, he rushed into a completely unknown situation like a first year Gryffindor and got the burnt of it. But knowing Dumbledore, he learnt his lesson and he will be waiting for you in Hogwarts."

"And unlike before, Hogwarts is his turf, his home-pitch. He has been the headmaster of school for the last four decades and knows the castle like the back of his hand. So, always try to be in the good graces of your teachers, but that doesn't mean you have to lick their boots. And no matter which house you are going to be sorted in, make friends and allies in all four houses. And most important of all, don't ever depreciate the schemes of Albus Dumbledore. Always be on full alert and have your occlumency shields firmly in place whenever you speak with him. Do you understand?"

By the time Raj finished his heated lecture to Harry, the young Lordling is nodding his head fervently. "Good. Now that we managed to drive some sense into your head, let us go and freshen up. We have some last minute preparations to make and also I would like to view your memory of the incident happened at Gringotts"

 _ **September 1**_ _ **st**_ _ **, 1991 :**_

"This looks beautiful uncle. Where did you get it?" asked Harry, staring at a platinum chain with a jade green pendant which has tiny diamonds embedded into it in an artistic way.

"That was my gift to you for your first birthday Harry. I asked Patty to fetch it for me and charmed it so that any mind altering spells will not work on you so long as you wear it. It also comes with the standard unbreakable charm and can only be taken off by you" said Raj

"Oh, thank you uncle. This looks beautiful. I shall wear it with me all the time" replied Harry, still staring at the jade pendant

"Don't mention it. Now, we must be off. I believe your Hogwarts express will depart at 11 AM and you said that you wanted to be there at least an hour before it departs"

Harry's eyes widened comically at his uncle's reply and said "Oh shit. I almost forgot about it. Let's go uncle. I don't think she will appreciate it if I'm late"

"She, Harry? I didn't know you compromised with your little girlfriend and set up a date with her just before leaving for Hogwarts. Should I be concerned that you are planning a runaway from our world with your girlfriend?" asked Raj in a tone of false concern

"Daphne is not my girlfriend uncle! And we did not make any compromise. I'm meeting with her little sister" replied a tomato faced Harry

"I never said Daphne is your girlfriend, did I? And I don't think she will like it, with you setting a secret date with her sister behind her back" said a grinning Raj

"Wha. . . I . . never . . . " sputtered Harry. Seeing Harry's deteriorating condition, Raj went out to a full blown laughter.

Seeing his uncle laugh, Harry jabbed his finger towards Raj and shouted "You did that on purpose, didn't you"

"Come huff. . on Harry, huff . . .you should have huff. . . .huff . . . seen your face" replied Raj, still between his bouts of laughter.

Harry huffed at Raj and said "Whatever, I'm going to King's cross station. You can come after you regained your senses" and left the room

Raj shouted after his nephew to wait for him, which he either did not listen or didn't care enough to stop for his uncle and stepped into the floo room.

 _ **King's cross Station :**_

"Before you say anything, I'm not late. You're just a lot earlier than I am" said a short blonde haired girl

"I did not say anything. And I did not come a lot earlier but just on our appointed time" replied a messy raven haired boy of eleven

The little girl huffed and said "So, what did you want to talk to me?"

"You are the one who said we should meet. Remember?" he retorted.

The little girl puffed out her cheeks at him and said "Well then, if you don't have anything to talk about, then I will just leave"

The little girl is about to take a step back from Harry when he called out and said "Ok ok. Alright, I'm sorry Astoria, please don't leave"

"Hmm. . . you need to learn some basic fundamentals when dealing with a girl, Harry" replied the little blondie.

Harry sighed in defeat and said "Now last time we met, you said that you have something to share about why Daphne is the way she is right now"

"Yes well, there isn't much to tell actually. She just kind of closed off most of the people after our mother died. Then our father married to another woman whom, she did not take kindly to and they had a big fight about it one day. And not long after that fight, that book about your adventures came out and that was like a final nail in the coffin. Now she acts indifferent to everyone except me and her best friend Tracey"

"Final nail in the coffin? Wow! Your vocabulary is way advanced for your age Astoria"

Astoria pointed her thumb to herself and said "Pureblood family, remember? We are taught such things right after we start speaking our first words, and I think you should be more focussed on Daphne and less on my advanced vocabulary"

Harry rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and mumbled a 'Sorry' and said "So, your step-mother, does she abuse you or Daphne?"

"Roxanne abusing us!" she exclaimed and then continued "Far from it! True, she is a bit stern to us if we skip our lessons sometimes, which is to be expected from any mother. But she is fair to us and makes sure our father spend time with us. And our father is a fairly busy and strict person but never raises his hand on us. Well except for that one time but you should ask Daphne about it"

Harry slowly nodded his head, taking his time to file away the information and said "Alright, I will ask her when I get a chance. Anything else I should know about your sister?"

"Well, don't annoy her too much. Because if you do, she will freeze your bits by that spell she learnt from our family Grimoire. Oh, and I think you should meet with Tracey Davies. Tracey is my sister's only friend around whom she behaves normal and her usual self. I already told her about you, but it is up to her to help you or not"

"Thank you Astoria. I owe you a big one" replied Harry gratefully

Astoria, with a mischievous glint in her eyes said "You shouldn't have said that Potter. But since you did, I'm going to hold you to that. See you later. Bye"

Harry gulped seeing the look on Astoria's face and the way she said the word 'Potter', and slowly raised his hand to wave at the retreating form of the little blonde mischief, wondering what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

"I swear I'm going to kill her when I find her" muttered an irritated Daphne Greengrass to herself. Currently she is searching for her sister who left her with her step-mother and father and went off citing she has some important work to do.

Used to the antics of the younger Greengrass, the Lord and Lady Greengrass left her to her machinations and immersed themselves in a conversation with Lord and Lady Davies. But, Daphne knew better than that. She is all too familiar with the look on her sister's face on that morning. It is the same look she had when Draco Malfoy soiled himself in the last year Christmas Yuletide when he annoyed her all too much. It is the same look responsible for the cause of boils on Pansy Parkinson's face when she betrayed her and Daphne's secrets to Draco Malfoy when they were nine years old.

That look on her sister's face means that she is scheming something and Daphne is going to find out what that is. As she dodged the throngs of people moving in different directions, without losing any of her Pureblood grace, she reached the end of the platform. Failing to find her little sister anywhere, she resigned to herself and decided to wait for her with her parents.

With that she turned about and started walking towards her parents when someone fell in line beside her and said "What were you doing at the end of the platform?"

Daphne let out a very un-womanly like 'eeep' and said "God damm it Astoria! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?"

Astoria snickered and said "Sorry Daph. I just couldn't help myself not to do that to you. But that aside, you still didn't answer my question"

Daphne shook her head in exasperation at her sister's antics and said "I came looking for you. What were you doing here at the end of the platform anyway?"

"Nothing. Just looking around. Why do you ask?" asked the younger Greengrass innocently

"Father and his wife may fall for your charms Tori, but I know that look on your face all too well. What are you scheming this time? And gods forbid if you are doing anything remotely similar to the last Yuletide, I will flay you alive"

Ignoring the last sentence, Astoria said "How long are you going to hold your grudge on our mother. . . " she quickly corrected seeing the look on her sister's face and said "Our step-mother?"

Other's may have withered under the cold look Daphne gave her younger sister but growing up with her, Astoria grew immune to that look and simply shrugged it off. They both walked silently toward their parents when Daphne asked "You still didn't answer my question Tori. What were you doing there?"

"I already said I was just looking around. Why do you insist that I was doing something?"

"Because I'm your sister and I know you well enough to know when you are lying" replied Daphne in an irritated voice.

The Greengrass sisters stopped their little banter as they reached their parents. Seeing the irritated look on Daphne and a little too innocent look on Astoria, the Greengrass matriarch shook her head and asked "Astoria! Have you been irritating your sister again?"

Daphne immediately snarked "What happens between myself and my sister is none of your business Lady Greengrass"

In a warning tone Antonin Greengrass tried reprimanding his daughter "Daphne . . . ." but is cut-off by her saying "Yes father. Now I will get on the train and find a compartment. See you at the Christmas break" and turned to Astoria and gave her a brief hug and vanished inside the train compartment, leaving a tear-eyed Roxanne Greengrass.

Tears were brimming in the eyes of Roxanne at Daphne's words. She honestly did not blame the girl for her attitude. Instead, she felt sad for the said girl. Antonin hugged his wife sideway and said "Don't let her words bother you Roxy. She just needs some more time to adjust to you"

"I hope so dear. I really hope so" replied a still tear-eyed Roxanne

"She will come around mother. Please don't let her words distress you" said Astoria

Roxanne gave her step-daughter a tear-eyed smile and said "Thank you Tori. Don't worry dear; I won't let them bother me"

* * *

The door to the compartment opened and a pixie haired girl entered the compartment. "There you are. I searched the entire train looking for you. Why didn't you wait for me on the platform? We could've gotten the compartment together" said the girl, setting her trunk in luggage compartment and sitting beside the blonde girl.

"Sorry Tracey. I just wanted to get away from my father and his wife and didn't think to wait for you" replied Daphne in a monotone.

Tracey already knew about the strained relationship between her and her father and step-mother, so instead she diverted the topic by saying "So, do you think Draco is going to be any less sufferable than he already is?"

Daphne snorted and said "Knowing him, he will strut around like a peacock and I heard that Lord Parkinson is trying for a betrothed contract with Malfoy's. So Pansy will also be sucking up to him. Not to mention his two gorilla body guards. So, if anything, he will be even more insufferable than before"

Suddenly the door to the compartment opened and a messy raven haired boy with the most beautiful green eyes they have ever seen entered the compartment and said "Uh . . hi! Can I join you in this compartment?"

Seeing who those eyes belonged to, Daphne immediately narrowed her eyes to slits and said "No Potter. You may not sit here. Go find yourself another compartment"

Ignoring Daphne's sudden outburst Tracey asked "Potter? As in Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived?"

"Actually, my name is Hadrian Potter. But you can call me Harry. Nice to meet you . . "

"Tracey. Tracey Davies"

"Nice to meet you Tracey Davies. Since I'm not welcome here anymore. . ." he said looking towards Daphne and then continued "I will find another compartment"

"Nonsense Harry. Don't mind Daphne. You can sit here. She is just in one of her moods" said Tracey waving off towards Daphne

"Tracey! What are you doing" hissed Daphne

"Come on Daph. This is the boy-who-lived we are talking about. How can we let him take another compartment when ours is still empty? Besides, he is cute to keep around" said Tracey

Harry blushed at her last statement and said "Actually, I prefer you not associating me with that useless moniker. I did nothing to get that title"

"See Daph! He is very modest and doesn't even want his title too. And look! He is even more cute when he is blushing! How can we say no to him!" exclaimed a little exited Tracey

Just then, the compartment door slid open and a dark skinned boy with brown eyes who looked to be like Italian entered the compartment and asked "Is this compartment taken?"

Harry looked to Tracey, who in turn looked to Daphne, who finally let out a frustrated sigh and nodded, much to Tracey's excitement and said "No, you both can sit here it you want"

Harry sat in the seat opposite to Daphne beside window, and the new boy sat beside him. He introduced himself to Harry "Hi, my name is Blaise Zabini"

"Hadrian Potter" Harry replied

"My name is Tracey Davies and this is Daphne Greengrass" said Tracey gesturing towards Daphne. After the pleasantaries were exchanged Harry noted a group of red heads bustling through the platform. Blaise observed the train slowly speeding up and said "So Hadrian, how do you reckon Hogwarts is going to be?"

The train raid was spent getting to know each other, although, Daphne kept the least minimum of the communication and never spoke a word directly to Harry, something Blaise noted and filed away for future prodding. Blaise came from a pure-blood family, but was raised by him mother, who married seven different men, all of whom died mysteriously. He seemed to be a bit touchy about the subject. His mother though raised him with all the grace and training given to all the pureblood families. Harry also noted that he held no prejudice against muggles or blood-status of people, having ventured into the muggle world quite a number of times with him mother. He also noted that the Ancient and Noble house of Zabini fought against Grindelwald, but stayed neutral in the last war.

Tracey is a half-blood. Her father, Marcus Davies, married her mother, Emily Davies, who is a muggle-born. The house of Davies is a minor house and had only been around for 200 years. Her father has partnerships in several shipping lanes and owns a profitable antiquity shop on the entrance of Knockturn Alley, so it works like a conjunction point for people from all three factions of Wizengamot, namely 'light', 'neutral' and 'dark' families. The Davies family is quite adept in curse-breaking, hence the antiquities shop. Emily Davies works as a healer in St. Mungo's and used to be best friends with Daphne's mother when she was alive.

Harry, for the first time was introduced to exploding snaps and the train raid was spent playing exploding snap and dilly-dallying about some random topic. An hour into the train journey, the compartment door slid open once again and a blonde haired boy, who tried to look intimidating at the occupants of the compartment entered into the compartment. On either side of the boy are two gorilla looking boys, who just stood there silently.

The little blonde boy surveyed the room and finally said "I heard Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived is on the train. Is he here?"

Before any others can respond, Harry swiftly replied "No one in this compartment is recognized by the name Harry Potter, Mr. . "

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy" replied the boy, lifting his chin proudly

"Right. Draco Malfoy. So I think your search should be continued through the remaining compartments" replied Harry, hoping the little blonde ponce would leave them be.

"Who are you to say that? You don't order me around. I demand to know your name" snapped the blonde haired ponce

"And I'm not obligated to answer your questions Malfoy" replied Harry in an equal snappy voice.

"Just leave us alone Malfoy. We don't need a quarrel before even the school starts" interfered Tracey

Draco looked at Tracey and snarled "Shut up half-blood. People of your kind are just above mudbloods and squibs. You should show proper respect to your betters"

Harry chuckled at Draco and said "We will do that when we see our betters. So why don't you and your merry band of gorillas leave us alone"

"Think you are funny, don't you. Well, we shall see how much fun you are after I'm finished with you" and took out his wand and sent a hex at Harry.

Harry quickly drew out his wand from his holster and cast a low level shield silently. The hex got absorbed by the shield and the next second Draco felt the tip of Harry's wand pointing directly between his eyes and Harry said in a cold voice "Leave Draco. And do not disturb me again. If you do, I will fry your family jewels and feed it to both of your cronies. Now get out of my sight"

Draco's face paled at the sudden turn of events and he, in his hurry to get out of the compartment stumbled on his foot and fell on the floor, dragging both of his body-guards down with him. Harry pointed his wand at the compartment and muttered _'Colloportus'_.

Harry turned and looked at the three stunned faces of his friends and said "I hope you don't mind me locking the door. It will not open unless I open it or someone over-power my locking spell"

Blaise nodded dumbly at him. Daphne, recovering quickly from her surprise, put on her mask of indifference. But Tracey shouted out "Are you kidding me. That was awesome. The look on the blonde ponce's face was priceless". Daphne shook her head in exasperation at her friend's antics.

After another half-an-hour, someone tried to open the compartment again. Failing to open it in the first go, they tried even harder and harder, but to no avail. So they started banging on the compartment.

Sighing to himself, Harry deactivated the locking spell and immediately a bushy haired girl stumbled into their compartment. Regaining her balance, she shouted out "Who locked the compartment door? It's against the school rules. You better apologize to me right now before I complain to a prefect about it"

"First of all Miss, there is no rule against students locking their compartment doors. They just need to open it if any prefect or staff member asks them to open it. Secondly, it is I who locked the door to provide myself and my friends some sort of privacy and I'm not going to apologize for it. If you had knocked politely, I would have opened it. So, if you want, you can take the issue to a prefect and I'm sure you will get the same answer. In fact, I think you will find that the prefect compartment itself will be _locked_ similar to ours. So, I suggest you knock their door, so that you don't embarrass yourself in front of them"

Tracey burst out in laugh by the time Harry completed stripping the girl verbally and made her eat answers to her own questions. The girl in front of him turned almost crimson in both anger and embarrassment. She accusingly pointed her finger at Harry and said "This is not over. And I will take this matter to higher authorities". With that, the girl huffed and left their compartment.

Blaise observed as the entire scene unfolded with a fascinating expression and after she left the their compartment, he said "What a weird girl"

There is a round of nodding approvals and the rest of their train journey continued without any further incident. They changed into their Hogwarts robes as the train approached Hogsmead station. They gathered all loose items, leaving their pet carriers and trunk behind to be brought up to the castle. They stepped out of the train and headed towards a giant man who would take them to their new home for the next ten months.

* * *

"Firs' 'ears over 'ere! Gather 'round an' follow me" said the booming sound of a half-giant.

Hagrid led them to a lake and gestured towards the boats and said "Four to a boat". Once all the first years had been accounted for and boarded the tiny boats, they set off across the large pond towards castle.

As the boats rounded the bend of the massive lake, they got their first look at Hogwarts. The castle is, in a word, absolutely massive and equally beautiful. The light of the silver moon reflected over the waters of the lake, making the antiquated castle even more beautiful. As the boats made it ashore, Harry immediately got off the boat and held out his hand for Daphne and said "Let me help you out my fair lady"

The rest of the students looked towards them in anticipation and Daphne knew that she could not refuse his hand because it would be rude not to accept a given hand according to etiquette lessons. So she grudgingly accepted his hand with the grace of a pureblood and got off the boat and whispered in his eyes "I will get you for that Potter"

Harry merely smiled at her and did the same for Tracey who took his hand giggling all the way. Hagrid led them to the entrance hall. As soon as Harry entered the castle, he felt a feeling of euphoria wash over his body and his knees jerked for a second. The aura, if he can call that, given off by Hogwarts, felt that he was finally at his home. Blaise and Dahpne took notice of the momentary change in his facial expression but none said anything and proceeded to the entrance hall. They were met by an old witch wearing emerald green robes with a stern look on her face. "Ere' ya go professor, the firs' years"

"Thank you, Hagrid. I am Professor McGonagall and I will be teaching you transfiguration for the length of your stay here. Now, all of you will be sorted into one of the four house; they are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family. Your deeds will earn you points and any misbehaving, and you will lose points for your house. By the end of the year, the house with most points will earn the House cup. Now wait here while I see if they're ready for you".

As the four were waiting for the stern professor to return, Harry observed their fellow first years. He saw Malfoy sneering at him, a red-headed boy frantically trying to get the dirt off his nose, the bushy haired girl they met earlier, also looking at him with narrowed eyes and with an angry expression and a pudgy looking boy, looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

Just then, Professor McGonagall came back into the room and said "It's time". They were led into the great hall where the rest of the students were sitting at four massive tables, each with a banner over top. On the far end of the tables is a raised dias where all the staff of Hogwarts sat. In front of the staff table, sat a high stool with a hat on top of it. As soon as all the first years gathered near the high stool, the hat on top of it promptly burst into a song.

 _Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me._

You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!

After the old hat finished the song, Professor McGonagall unrolled a parchment and began calling names.

' _Abbot, Hannah'_ the little girl sat on the high stool and soon the hat sorted her into Hufflepuff. The girl got off the stool and went to sit with her housemates. Next is a red headed girl named Susan Bones, who also went to Hufflepuff. Harry watched as Tracey, Daphne, Blaise and Malfoy getting sorted into Slytheirn. The bushy haired girl whose name is Hermoine Granger, the red headed boy named Ronald Weasly and the pudgy looking boy named Neville Longbottom sorted into Gryffindor.

' _Potter, Harry'_ Harry sighed as the entire great hall burst out into whispers, but stood in his place not moving. McGonagall called his name again but to no avail. Finally she barked out "Mr Potter, have you not been listening? I called your name twice"

"No professor. You called Harry Potter. I'm not recognized by that name. My name, which was given to me by my father as per the old traditions, is _'Hadrian James Potter'_. Harry is a privileged name given to me by my mother and I don't remember giving the staff of Hogwarts, the permission to use it" replied Harry in an even tone.

Dumbledore of course knew about his name, but he also knew that older names such as his have power and Dumbledore wanted to curb as much of his power as he can. So, he rose from his chair and said "Be that as may be Mr Potter, but the sorting ceremony cannot wait for a single individual. I think you should sit for sorting without any more delays"

Harry turned to the old Headmaster and said "Of course Headmaster. As soon as Professor McGonagall here spells out my original name, I will proceed for sorting. Because, maybe you forgot in your old age, but let me remind you. If a student accepts a name spelled from that parchment before the sorting ceremony, the same name will appear in all of his academic certificates even if the said name is a wrong one, and we don't want that now, do we Headmaster?"

Dumbledore was about to retort with a reply when McGonagall interjected and said "You are right Mr Potter and I apologize for our mistake" and glared at Headmaster and said "I will make sure such mistakes will not occur in the future"

"Thank you, Professor"replied a grateful Harry. If McGonagall hadn't interfered, he was sure it would have taken quite sometime before his sorting would have happened and he is really not in a mood for that.

McGonagall nodded and called out his name as _'Potter,_ Hadrian _'_

Harry took his seat on the high stool and the old dirty hat is placed on his head.

" _Hmm. . . . difficult, very difficult. What house do you prefer Mr Potter?" asked the sorting hat in an amused voice._

 _Harry was momentarily surprised by the sudden intrusion on his mind and said "I don't mind Mr Hat. Do you have a name or are you simply called hat?" asked Harry, trying to clamp down all of his occlumency shields._

 _The hat let out a throaty laugh and said "Do not worry about what I find in your mind Mr Potter. I'm bound by the magics of the old not to reveal your secrets to anyone. You can relax your shields around me. And thank you for asking my name. My creators gave me the name 'Rovric Helazar'"_

 _Harry decided to trust the hat and relaxed his occlumency shields and said "Thank you for trusting your name with me Mr Rovric Helazar"_

" _Oh, don't mention it young Mr Potter. It's not every day someone. . . . .Oh my, what do we have here. You placed me in a very tricky situation Mr Potter, but it's really down to two houses. Hufflepuff is out because even though you are loyal, you are loyal only to your friends and earning your trust is very difficult and your intensity would probably drive them and you crazy. Ravenclaw is out as well for the same reasons. They would start pestering you when you start showing your prodigious talent and ostracize you if you refuse to answer all of their questions" the Hat pondered, slowly musing to itself._

" _You have the necessary traits and more, to be placed in Griffindor and no doubt you will shine through that house. But your ambitions will probably drive a wedge between you and the rest of your housemates" the hat's voice was slowly getting firmer as it talked through its thoughts._

 _The hat's voice suddenly turned firm and rigid, and Harry was surprised when he could actually hear anger in the hat's voice or voices. As the conversations picked up and as the emotions in hat's voice rose, he could pick up four different voices in the hat's speech. "No Mr Potter. You will not be going to the house of courage. Instead, you will be going to the house of the ambitious and cunning for many reasons. The politics there can destroy people in that house, but you have lived through far worse than anything that house members can throw at you"_

 _Harry now could clearly hear a distinct combination of two male and two female voices through the hat's voice as it said "That house has long since fallen from disgrace and became a bastion of bigots and bullies. To be in the house is incredible dangerous for any ordinary witch or wizard and it is known as a viper pit for a reason. What limited power the head of the house has over his house, he cannot change it as his hands are cuffed by the Headmaster. Until now, we have been powerless to do anything about it. No longer!"_

 _The voices in the hat seemed to cackle with glee and this time the hat spoke with only one voice. Though, this voice is noticeable different than the hat's normal voice. It was far more deep and cultured than the other voices he heard in the hat. "You are a one in a life time opportunity young wizard and I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to release a basilisk among the little vipers quite literally. Accept yourself and all of who you are. The only thing I ask of you is to cleanse the atrocity of the house that became of the house of serpents. You have power and potential far more than you realize young wizard. Change my house. Change it and you will make strides in to changing the school. Change it and the world will come to its knees before you. I beg of you to restore nobility to my name and to the house of Salazar_ **SLYTHERIN"**

* * *

 **Now there's your chapter. That's it for now. I request all the readers to please read and leave me a review or a PM. Your suggestions make a world of difference to me. Thank you all. Until next time.**


	9. Snake Pit

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Characters belonging to Harry Potter book series are sole property of JK Rowling. Other character appearances are purely fictional.**

* * *

 **Here's another chapter. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Snake Pit**

 **Forbidden Forest:**

"Chieftain, he arrived at the school. What do you want us to do?" asked Bane.

"Venus predicts that he shall meet us in a couple of moons. Till then keep an eye on the boy from a safe distance" answered Magorian, the herd-leader/chieftain of the tribe of centaurs living in forbidden forest.

"Are you sure it is wise. . . . for us to involve in the matters of Wizards, Magorian? We already have several sanctions on us and if the wizards find out that we are trying to get in contact with their golden boy, consequences against us will be severe" said another voice from behind the herd leader.

Magorian released a sigh of helplessness and said "Venus has already spoken Ronan. Nothing we do now can change what is going to happen. The best thing we can do now is to watch him from a distance and let him come to us"

The two centaurs nodded to their leader and left him to his thoughts. After his tribesmen left him, Magorian turned upwards to peer towards the stars, looking for any signs of future. After a few minutes of staring at the stars for any information, without turning from them, he said "Is there something you wish to talk to me, Firenze?"

With soft hoof sounds, the bearded centaur walked to his leader and said "There is more to this boy than you are saying, isn't there leader?"

Magorian turned towards the newcomer and with a soft laugh; he said "You are always more perspective than the rest of our herd-members, young one. Perhaps, one day, you will be the one to lead this herd"

"If that is what the heavens decree, leader. But you have not yet answered my question" replied Firenze in a monotone.

Magorian again turned towards the sky and with a heavy sigh; he said "I can only tell you what I know. . . .but I tell not to sate your curiosity but for the benefit of our herd. . . and possibly our race"

Firenze nodded at his leader and prodded him to continue. "I foresee a great battle in front of us. A battle which will decide the fate of not only our race, but of all the magical races and that boy there, he will be at the middle of it. I foresee the rise of the our ancient kingdom and the creation of a society where all magical creatures will have an equal standings with the Witches and Wizards"

"Are you sure of this prediction, leader? Sure, tensions between wizards and us are high, but not. . ."

Firenze started but immediately was cut-off by his leader saying "It is not our place to question the decrees of heaven. We are sworn not to oppose the heavens, Firenze. And the heavens decrees that this boy will bear a great burden, the burden of the ancient Magical kingdom of Europa and it is our duty to assist him however we can"

Firenze hastily nodded his head and bowed to his leader and said "It agree with you leader and apologize for questioning your predictions. Now I will leave you and allow you to stargaze at peace". With that, he left his leader, quickly galloping away from his leader.

Magorian turned his gaze from the retreating form of Firenze back towards the stars and in a voice barely above whisper he said "Are you strong enough to face your future, young foal? Are you ready to shoulder your burden? I guess only time will tell"

 **Same time in Great hall:**

" _. . . . . . of you to restore the nobility to my name and to the house of Salazar_ _ **SLYTHERIN",**_ the hat bellowed out the last sentence.

Pin drop silence can be heard around in the great hall of Hogwarts. Most of the students can be found they are doing a rather impressive imitation of a fish out of water. Even most of the staff seems to be shocked by the sorting. The impact of the sorting is so high that even Severus Snape, resident potions master who is known to be apathetic to most of the things has shown a flicker of surprise in his demeanor.

The silence in the hall is broken by the Weasley twins with their dramatic wailing of 'We didn't get the Potter'. Someone from the staff table started clapping and soon, the rest of the student body, minus some Slytherins joined as well. Most of the students at the Slytherin table narrowed their eyes in suspicion but decided to remain silent for the time being.

Harry quickly made his way towards Slytherin table and promptly placed himself between Daphne and Blaise. "What are you doing here, Potter?" hissed an irate Daphne Greengrass.

"Why, I'm sitting with my house-mates for dinner of course. And I thank you for your welcome into the house of snakes, Daphne" replied Harry in a cheerful tone.

Daphne narrowed her eyes into this slits and hissed "I already told you not to call me with such familiarity, Potter"

Ignoring Daphne's threatening voice, Harry continued in his cheerful tone "And I'm happy to see that you are happy that I'm sorted into the same house as you, Daphne. I didn't know you cared so much"

Tracey giggled at her friend's banter and said "You know Hadrian, if people are surprised that you defied the so called leader of light, Albus Dumbledore, about your name being spelled wrong, then you definitely stumped everyone with your sorting into the house of snakes"

Harry too chuckled at her and said "Well, what can I say. Trouble always has a knack of finding me"

"You can say that again Hadrian. The old crook probably had a small heart-attack when you were sorted into Slytherin" said Blaise.

Before Harry could reply, Minerva McGonagall clinked her glass silencing the great-hall for the Headmaster to continue, who stood up from his chair/throne as said "A warm welcome to all the first year students and welcome back to all the returning students. Before you all become befuddled by our excellent feast, I have a few start of the term announcements to make. . . . "

Harry tuned out the headmaster and instead started to observe the rest of his house-mates. He observed that most of the upper year students remained indifferent to his appearance in the house. Though some of the second to fourth year students often threw suspicious looks and occasional glares, mostly from Draco Malfoy, towards him when they thought he isn't looking. Harry sighed and thought to himself 'Well, can't win them all. This is the first day of my school after all'

By the time Harry finished his musings, food appeared on the table in front of him. Throughout the feast Harry made small talk with his housemates, ignoring the glances and glares. After finishing the feast, they are escorted by a fifth year prefect to their house dormitories. Most of the Slytherin dormitories are in dungeons of the castle. As they started walking towards the dungeons, Harry couldn't help but notice the similarities between this castle dungeons and the dungeon in his mind-space and involuntarily gave out a little shudder. Thank fully, none of the students observed his little display.

They reached the end of the corridor and stood in front of a statue of two intertwined snakes. Some of the first years let out a little shudder at the intimidating snake statue. The prefect turned around towards the students and said "This is the entrance to our house common room and the password is 'ambitiose'".

"Ah! Latin word for 'ambitious' if I'm not wrong" quipped Harry, immediately recognizing the word.

The prefect raised his eyebrow and nodded at Harry in appreciation and said "Not bad, Potter"

The prefect turned towards the snake statue and as soon as he said the required password the intertwining snakes untangled themselves, providing entrance to them.

They entered into a large lavish room with medium sized brick fireplace and couches and tables arranged in an intricate manner which screamed sophistication. The walls are a combination of green and silver with an occasional moving painting adorning the walls. All in all, the common room of Slytherin looked to be the perfect representation of a pureblood house foyer.

As Harry finished his scrutiny of his house common room, one the prefect bellowed out "First years, gather 'round here. We have a few announcements to make and then you can go to your rooms"

The first years shuffled around and gathered in front of the prefects. One of the prefects started "My name is Albert Brickenden, 6th year prefect and this. . ." he gestured to another brown haired female and said "is Alina Foreman, also 6th year prefect. First of all; let me congratulate you all for being sorted into the noble house of Slytherin. Unfortunately, being sorted in to Slytherin also means you will be ostracized against some pre-conceived notions by the rest of the school. That is the reason why we Slytherins always stick together and present a united-front in front of the rest of the school. If you have any disputes with any of our house-mates, clear them in our common room or a private setting of your own choice. But always keep in mind that if we show any weakness in front of other houses, they will use that weakness to tear us apart"

Another prefect immediately quipped and said "Our house has always stood in the second place for house cup and quidditch cup for the last fifteen years because of that twinkle eyed old fool we have for Headmaster. So I suggest that if there are any fools among you who worship the ground he walks, I suggest you stop it or else you will find your life very hard in the snake pit"

Albert glared at his fellow student and continued "Thank you for your interruption Michael. As you have heard, our Headmaster is not the grandfatherly figure he tries to portrait himself to be. Also, some of you might have noticed that password to our entrance room is in Latin. What you don't know is that, it is a tradition in Slytherin house that all the passwords of any kind are be in one of seven ancient magical languages and as the students of this noble house, you are expected to uphold this tradition. For those of you who don't know, the seven magical languages are Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Sanskrit, Ancient Mandarin, Yucatec Maya, and Ancient Arabic. If you want any help with setting up your passwords or with your school works, you can approach us or any of the older years"

While the prefect is continuing with his speech, Harry observed a figure slipped in to the common room and stood in the shadows of the room. Harry was surprised as the figure in the shadows did not make any kind of sounds while entering the room. 'Must be a silencing spell', thought Harry.

As the prefect finished his speech, the figure from the shadows came forward silently and suddenly said "Thank you Mr Brickenden. My name is Severus Snape and I am your potions professor and also the head of house Slytherin for the duration of your stay here in the castle. As Mr Brickenden suggested, I expect nothing but the best from the students of my house. If I found out that any of you dunderheads behaved like those foolish Griffindors, rest assured, I will make sure you have a busy weekend in my potions laboratory cleaning cauldrons"

Most of the first hears quivered under the potions master's pointed gaze. His gaze lingered on Harry just a second more than the rest of the students. "Your class schedules will be given to you tomorrow at your house table during breakfast. Prefects will show you to your dormitory rooms. Good night" he said and without waiting for a response, walked out of the common room, his black cloak billowing on his behind.

Taking his cue to continue, the prefect said "You will find the boys dormitories in the corridor in the left of the fire-place. For girls, it is the same but the corridor in the right side of the fire-place. Each room will be housing two students. You will find that your rooms will be having just the bare minimum necessities. You can decorate your room as you see fit and it is expected of you to decorate your room. You can do that by using transfiguration or getting from your own home or by asking older years to help you. The quality of your room plays an important role in determining your social standing in the house. One of the prefects will be escorting you to great hall tomorrow morning for breakfast, so please gather here in our common room by 8 in the morning. Good night"

When Harry finally found his room, to his horror, he found out that his roommate is going to be none other than Draco Malfoy. When he entered his room, he found Draco already in the room, just about to un-bag his luggage. When he saw Harry entering the room, Draco sneered at him and shouted "What are you doing here Potter? This is my room! Now get out of here before I throw you out of here"

Harry fixed him with a glare and said "This is my room too Malfoy or have you gone deaf when the prefect said our rooms are going to be shared between two boys? And as much as I would like to see you try throwing me out of my room, I'm too tired to entertain you"

As Harry finished his counter, Draco's face turned purple with rage and sent a hex at him. Anticipating of the blonde ponce's reaction, Harry simply side-stepped the hex and sent a full-body binding jinx at him, making him immobile and walked to the downed boy and in a threatening way he said "Listen here Malfoy. I'm not any happier to share this room with you than you are and if you continue to annoy me any further, I will hex you so hard that you will find yourself in hospital wing for at least a week with no memory of how you got there. Do you understand?"

Seeing the panicked look on his face, Harry said "I'm going to release the body-bind and you are going to leave me alone. Do we have an accord?" Draco nodded his head or at least as much as he could, under a full-body bind. Harry stepped back and released the spell on him.

As soon as Harry released the spell, Draco shot up and ran out of the room like his arse is on fire. Harry chuckled at his roommate's behavior and continued unpacking his luggage. After five minutes or so, Harry heard a knock on his door and saw Blaise Zabini entering the room along with another scrawny looking mousy haired boy.

Seeing the questioning look on Harry's face, Blaise said with a laugh "Evening Hadrian. Look's like you made one hell of an impression on our resident blonde ponce"

Harry chuckled at that and said "Well, he got it coming. He thought he could hex me when my back is turned and get away from it"

"Yeah, I guess he got that coming" replied Blaise, his smile not leaving his face.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you here, what are you doing here? And who is your new friend with you?" asked Harry.

"My apologies to you, Heir Potter. My name is Theodore Nott, second son to the lord of the Noble and Ancient house of Nott. It is a pleasure to meet you" said the mousy haired boy introducing himself.

"The pleasure is mine, Theodore of House Nott. May I enquire why you have come to my room at this hour?" replied Harry, observing the etiquette his uncle and grandfather taught him.

"I've come to collect Draco's luggage. He made a deal with Zabini here to interchange their rooms" answered Theodore.

"Apparently, he does not want to bunk with an uncivilized savage, who in this case is you. So, he made a deal with me to exchange our rooms, for which, he will owe me a favor" replied Blaise.

Harry shrugged and said "Couldn't care less about what he thinks of me but I guess I should thank him for changing his lodgings. Anyway, I'm tired and wish to sleep. Help yourself to the other bed Blaise"

Meanwhile, Theo collected all of Draco's possessions and said his goodbye's and left the room.

 **Office of Transfiguration Professor:**

Minerva McGonagall, Head of house Gryffindor and Deputy Head-mistress of _Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry,_ has been through two Wizarding Wars and also helped shape the futures of several students under her tutelage. It is because of that experience that she had a foreboding that something is going to happen the moment she uttered the name 'Harry Potter', and it proved to be right. She argued with Dumbledore earlier that day when she saw his name in the list of first year students. She knew about Harry's given name and pointed out the same to Dumbledore for almost an hour but to no avail.

The old Headmaster, who she once proudly called her friend, did not budge on the matter citing it is for the safety of young Potter. She felt elated when her favorite student's son stood his ground against the headmaster. And before things got out of hand, she stepped in and changed his name on the list as it should be in the first place and now the Headmaster cannot do anything about it. Minerva thought that, like his mother and father, the young Potter will be sorted into Gryffindor but imagine her shock when the sorting hat sorted Hadrian into 'Slytherin'. If he is anything like his parents, then the house of snakes is in for one hell of a wake-up call.

Little did she know that it is not just the house of snakes that is going to get the wake-up call but rather, the entire school of Hogwarts. Feeling a little tired than usual, the transfiguration mistress decided to call it a day and went into her chambers to retire for the day.

* * *

The next day Harry woke up as usual and since this is the first day of his school, he took easy on his workout and by the time he came back to his room, he found Blaise just coming out of his shower.

"Wow, Hadrian, what the hell happened to you? You look like you just took a dip in Black Lake" exclaimed Blaise at Harry's sweat soaked body.

"Oh, Good morning Blaise. I just came back from my morning workout" replied Harry.

Blaise raised his eyebrows and said "That must have been one hell of a workout if you look like that. Most of the Wizarding folk don't bother about doing workouts or keeping their body fit"

Harry shrugged and said "Yeah, I've heard of that but my uncle was adamant about me always keeping my body in shape and working on my endurance and stamina. Anyway, can you wait for me in the common room please? I'd like to take a shower and be there in, like 15 minutes"

By the time they finished their conversation; Blaise changed into their school robes and said "Yeah, no problem. Just hurry up. I'll be waiting for you in the common room" and with that he left their room.

Harry came down to common room to find the rest of the first years already there. He quickly spotted Blaise who is with Tracey and Daphne and made his way to them. On his way, he muttered a quick good morning to Theodore Nott which the boy returned.

"Good morning Tracey and Daphne. You both look quite beautiful this morning" said Harry

Tracey giggled at him returned his morning salutation while Daphne remained silent. But if one were to look a bit closer, they would have noticed a slight dust of pink on her cheeks. But none of them noticed this because two 5th year prefects decided to make their entrance into the common room at that precise moment and gathered all the first years and they made their way to great hall for their breakfast.

* * *

Breakfast went by in a breeze and soon their head of the house approached them to hand out their time schedules. Harry studied his schedule trying to memorize it :

 _Monday:_

 _9AM to 10:30AM - Transfiguration with Ravenclaw_

 _10:45AM to 12:15PM - Charms with Hufflepuff_

 _Lunch_

 _1:30PM to 3:30PM - Double potions with Gryffindor_

 _Dinner_

 _Tuesday, Thursday:_

 _9AM to 10:30AM – Herbology with Hufflepuff_

 _10:45AM to 12:15PM – Defence against Dark Arts with Gryffindors_

 _Lunch_

 _1:30PM to 2:30PM - History of Magic with Ravenclaw_

 _Dinner_

 _12AM to 3AM – Astronomy with Gryffindor_

 _Wednesday, Friday:_

 _12:30PM to 2PM – Transfiguration with Gryffindor_

 _2:15PM to 3:35PM – Charms with Ravenclaw_

He observed that the Slytherins have more classes with Gryffindors than the rest of the houses and thought 'what is the old man thinking, making two rival houses sit together for most of the classes'. After finishing their breakfast, all the first years are led to the Transfiguration classroom by the earlier two prefects. When they entered the room, a large regal looking green furred cat is already perched on the table, giving the entering students a scrutinizing look. Daphne and Tracey took the first bench on the left side of the class room. Harry and Blaise followed their suit and took benches next to them. Harry eyed the cat with critical look as something about the cat didn't look normal to him but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Slowly, the class started to fill with students and subsequently the noise level too started to rise.

Harry opened his transfiguration book and started to review what he already knew. When the bell rang signifying that the class has begun, the cat on the table suddenly leapt forward and immediately changed into their Transfiguration Professor.

As the entire class remained stunned at the suddenly morphed Professor, Harry broke the silence by exclaiming "Brilliant Professor! You are an Animagus, aren't you?"

McGonagall turned to Harry and said "Thank you for your assessment Mr Potter. And yes, I am an Animagus"

"Will you be teaching us how to transfer into our Animagus form, Professor?" asked an excited Hadrian Potter.

"Human transfiguration is quite an advanced form of transfiguration and I'm afraid that Animagus training has been removed from Hogwarts curriculum some fifteen years ago" replied the aged professor with a hint of sadness in her tone.

"Human transfiguration aside, today we will be discussing about what we will be studying the rest of the semester" and with that the transfiguration class continued for the duration of the next one and half hour.

Harry found that charms class is completely different from transfiguration. While their transfiguration professor is quite stern looking woman, their charms professor, a half-goblin, who goes by the name, Filius Flitwick, has a bubbly personality with squeaking voice. But to Harry's dismay, the half-goblin too discussed only about what they are going to study for the rest of their semester.

Lunch passed by in a blur and the first year Slytherins are waiting for their Potions professor to allow them to enter into their potions class. As they waited outside their classroom, they were joined by their Gryffindor counterparts. Harry ignored them in favor of chatting with his friends when he heard "So, you are the great Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived. Looks to me like you are nothing special than the rest of us"

Harry turned from his friends and found the source of the voice to be a pudgy looking boy, Neville Longbottom, if he recalled his memory correctly from yesterday night's sorting. Harry wondered how this conversation is going to be, but anyway continued "You are Heir Longbottom, I presume?" When the boy nodded, Harry continued "If you are talking about me, Longbottom, then the least you could do is use my proper name"

"What are you talking about? Harry is your original name. All those books about you mentioned that your name is Harry Potter. Moreover, Headmaster Dumbledore too says that your name is Harry Potter" replied the Gryffindor boy haughtly.

Harry sighed and said "Did you not listen to what I said yesterday at the sorting ceremony? My given name is Hadrian James Potter. Harry is my privileged name, used by my mother and my family members. As for those books you mentioned, they are nothing but mere fictions which does not have an ounce of truth in them. In fact, they are being taken care of right now as we speak"

Neville snorted and said "Yeah, whatever. It doesn't matter what all those books say about you. I know they are nothing but lies"

Harry folded his arms in front of his chest and with a raised eyebrow and he said "Isn't that what I just said, that all those books are nothing but fakes. I think you should first work on your listening before speaking, Heir Longbottom"

The rest of the student body burst out into laugh at him. Neville sputtered while his face became an angry shade of red from the embarrassment Heir Potter is causing him and he yelled out "Shut up, Potter. You may have fooled all of these people, but Dumbledore told me the truth of how fake you are. The truth of that night, how you used your parents murder to elevate yourself and gain name and fame which were supposed to be mine. I am the real child of prophecy and real the-boy-who-lived. I should be in your place. You are nothing but a fake"

The temperature in the corridor outside the potions classroom suddenly dropped by several degrees and a cold shiver ran through the spines of all the students in that corridor when Harry, in a cold voice spoke "By being in my place, are you saying that, you wish that your parent were dead that night instead of mine? Or perhaps that you should be the one to be left in the middle of a cold winter night at the door steps of house of someone who hates magic with all their being, and spend the next 7 years as nothing more than an abused house elf to them?"

Neville's face lost all colour as Harry continued to speak "I was a one year old baby when my parents were murdered that night. How did you get it in the space between your ears which you call brain, that a one year old kid cooked up a story and made the entire Wizarding world believe him?"

Neville opened and closed his mouth several time to form a coherent word and suddenly the door to the potions classroom opened, revealing their Potions Professor. Snape took in the gloomy atmosphere surrounding his students and concluded that some sort of argument took place between Neville Longbottom and Hadrian Potter.

Since he was not present at the time of argument, he concluded that he could get the information about what happened at later time and said a single word 'Enter' to the waiting first years and disappeared into the class.

The rest of the day continued in a sombre mood for Harry. No one dared to disturb him when he sat in front of the fire place in Slytherin common room, staring into flames. Even Daphne's face softened whenever she saw Harry that evening and Blaise and Tracey simply sat beside him, but kept their silence.

 **Later same night, Headmaster's office:**

"Come in, my boy" heard Neville as he was about to knock on the headmaster's office door.

Neville opened the door and entered into a rather spacious room with walls full of moving portraits of previous headmasters of Hogwarts. Some are sleeping while some are trying to say something but no sound could be heard from them. 'Silencing charms? Maybe they irritated Dumbledore with their ramblings' thought Neville.

"Good evening, Headmaster" said Neville to the old man in front of him.

"Good evening to you too my boy. Lemon drops?" replied the aged headmaster jovially and offered a bowl of lemon sweets.

"No thank you professor. I wanted to speak about something to you" answered the pudgy boy.

"Sure, sure. What is it you want to discuss with me, my boy" replied Dumbledore in his patented grandfather voice.

"I met with Harr- I mean Hadrian today. I...I accused him of being a fake boy-who-lived and that he used his parent's murder to rise to fame. I...I.."

"Do you mind if viewed you memory, my boy?" asked Dumbledore, cutting off whatever Neville was going to say.

Neville shook his negatively and said "I don't mind professor"

Dumbledore gave one of his grandfatherly smiles and said "I believe you remember how to extract you memory?"

Neville nodded his head and placed the other end of his maple unicorn hair and maple wood wand at his temple and extracted a long silver thread like substance and dropped it in the Headmaster's pensive.

Dumbledore quickly dove into the pensive and came out after a few minutes with a calculating expression on his face. He was pulled out of his musing by Neville saying "What he said is true, isn't it? There is no way a one year old kid can do what you said he did, is there? I don't even understand how I though what you said is true about Hadrian in the first place"

Dumbledore closed his eyes and took a deep breath, seemingly come to some sort of conclusion and opened his eyes and said "I'm afraid that I can't have you questioning me, my boy. You must understand that all I do is for the greater good"

"What are you talking about Headmaster? I must apologize to Hadrian tomorrow and also send an owl to my gran to invite Hadrian to our manor to celebrate Christmas with us. Good night"

A medium sized grey owl landed on the perch on the out side of the window of the Headmaster's office with it's prey in its talons. It bent down to rip off the prey clutched in it's talons and have it's dinner when a green light filled the room inside, scaring the wits out of the poor bird.

* * *

It has been six weeks since start of school and our young Potter, like the rest of the students, had been excited about the start of classes and eager to learn what the professors are going to teach them. But his flames of excitement have been thoroughly doused by the end of first week of classes as he got to know what the professors are going to teach.

Of the courses he is attending, DADA and History of Magic are the most abysmal subjects till now. One is taught by a stuttering fool wearing a turban around his head, in a class which reeks of garlic. One would think if he had a fetish for garlic or something. While, the other one is taught by ghost who drones on and on about goblin wars and revolution. Harry stopped attending History of Magic classes by the end of first week and instead starting spending that time in library or in an empty classroom practicing higher level spells.

Herbology and Astronomy are barely bearable. He understood that, in order to become a potions master; one must have more than acceptable knowledge in Herbology, and that the full potential of certain potions and rituals are only realised when they are brewed or done during a specific alignment of stars and planets. But how the hell are they supposed to do that when they are not even allowed to touch the plants or telescopes in the first place.

Transfiguration and Charms are better than the above mentioned subjects but still were not up to the mark as Harry thought them to be, leaving him bored in most of the classes.

His only respite throughout the week is his potions class where he usually brews up the required potion well before the given time and he is left to his own devices for the remaining amount of time. Harry usually uses that time to help his friends or to read-up about a higher-level potion. Speaking of his friends, he and Blaise became close friends. He can even go as far as to say that he is his best friend. He and Tracey too gets along quite well. He discovered that she can be quite as cunning and ruthless as she is bubbly. Poor Pansy Parkinson learnt about that in the hard way when she insulted Tracey about her mother. Daphne and him made no progress on their relationship. She mostly remains indifferent to him and speaks to him only when it is absolutely necessary. Theodore Nott is an odd ball among his peers. The boy seemed like he wanted to be friends with him but seems hesitant to do so in front of his housemates. His rivalry with Neville Longbottom continued as usual. A red haired boy named Ronald Weasley jumped into the fray and made it even worse than before. Now, they can barely stand each other's presence.

* * *

Presently, we find Harry brewing a Wiggenweld Potion. After adding five lionfish spines, he started heating the cauldron and turned to his brewing partner Blaise, who called him to check whether the flobberworm mucus is enough for their potion or should he get some more. As he turned towards Blaise, from the corner of his eye, he saw a green blob flying into his cauldron and before Harry could stop, it dropped into their cauldron and the solution immediately turned to purple and started to give out a strange odour fumes.

Snape, immediately sensing the exploding of someone's cauldron, starting to look for his target and found them. He arrived just in time to see the cauldron already melting and bubbling violently and immediately threw a protective shield over the cauldron. As the cauldron exploded, the potions master's shield swelled outwards but contained the explosion.

After averting the crisis he turned to Harry and Blaise and snarled "What were you dunderheads thinking by adding Armadillo bile in Wiggenweld Potion? I specifically mentioned what adverse effects it will have, if mixed with the potion, at the start of the class"

"We did not add it to the potion, sir. When I turned to Blaise, someone dropped it in our cauldron" answered Harry

"Yeah, like someone really needed to sabotage your potions, Potter" snorted Draco.

"I remember you blowing up half the lab when you were brewing a simple 'cure for boils', Malfoy" replied Blaise

"Although, I wouldn't put it past you to sabotage potions which are better than yours" countered Harry in a cold voice.

"Why you…."

"Silence!" bellowed Snape and said "10 points from Slytherin from the two of you for your incompetence and detention tonight for you Mr Potter, for accusing your fellow Slytherin of sabotaging. Also, just a passing grade for you and Mr Zabini today. Now leave before I increase your punishment"

Harry and Blaise left the potions class and headed straight for their common room. After another half-an-hour, Daphne and Tracey joined them and they shared their notes of what happened after they left the class and after that they proceeded to finish their assignments.

The group did their assignments in silence and before Harry knew it; his time for detention with their potions master has arrived. The group collected their books and Harry got up to leave the common room for his detention when Draco and his band of cronies blocked his way and said "Going to serve your detention, Potter? Serves you right, seeing your pathetic skills with brewing, it's no wonder your cauldron blew up"

"Move, Malfoy. I'm not in a mood to deal with you now" replied Harry, trying to find a reign in his temper.

Draco ignored him and continued "You are a shame to this noble house, Potter. Because of you, we lost 20 points today. Today, I'm going to teach you how to respect your betters"

"I will respect my betters when I see them. Right now, all I see are one blonde peacock and two over-grown mini guerrillas" replied Harry, eliciting a few laughs from the rest of the housemates.

Draco's face reddened with anger and pulled out his wand to curse Harry, but before he could do anything, his wand was ripped out of his hand and land in Harry's hand. Crabbe and Goyle moved to protect their leader but found their faces at the opposite end of wands from Tracey and Blaise.

Without taking his eyes from the over-grown first year, Blaise said "Hadrian, they are trying to stall you and make you late to your detention. Daphne went to call the prefects. So, we can handle Malfoy for now. Leave now, before Snape handles out another detention to you for being late"

Seeing the triumphant smirk on Draco's face, Harry cursed himself inwardly and shot out of the common room and ran towards the office of his head of the house. He reached the door and took a moment to catch his breath and then politely knocked on the door.

Hearing a faint 'Come in', Harry opened the door and went inside and closed the door beside him and stood in front of his potions master. Snape looked up from grading his papers and took a look at Harry for a moment and then pointed towards the simmering cauldrons on in one corner of the room and said "Since the Quidditch season at Hogwarts is going to start soon, Madam Pomfrey wanted to restock her supplies of Wiggenweld Potion and Healing salve. For your detention for tonight, you will be brewing 5 batches of Wiggenweld Potion and 3 batches of Healing salve. Each batch will contain 5 vials/boxes and I will be inspecting each and every batch and you will continue brewing until I find it satisfactory. Now, get on to work" and went back to grading his papers.

Harry went to his station and started brewing Wiggenweld Potion first and let it simper and then lit another cauldron for Healing salve. About 20 minutes into his detention, he felt someone behind him and turned to find Snape standing just behind him.

"What are you doing, Potter? Why are you not following the procedure specified in the book? Do you fancy yourself to be a potions master and find yourselves not in need of following normal procedures?" Snape sneered at Harry.

Unperturbed by the outburst of his potions master, Harry simply replied "No sir. But since we are brewing potions on a medium scale, following standard procedure mentioned in the books will take a long time. So, I'm using an improvised procedure which I found in one of my parents journal" and showed his mother's journal

Snape snatched the journal from Harry's hand and started going through its content. He immediately recognized the hand writing and his eyes widened in surprise for a moment. He immediately schooled his features and asked in a monotone "Where did you find this journal, Potter?"

"That is my mother's journal, professor. I found it in a stash of books in her room at Potter Manor"

Snape nodded at Harry, accepting his answer and said "Be that as may be Mr Potter, but brewing a potion with a changed procedure will lead to disastrous results"

"I may not know everything there is to know about potions brewing, Professor. But I know the reason behind every step in procedure mentioned in that journal" replied Harry sincerely.

Snape raised his right eyebrow and said "Explain"

Harry nodded and started "Normal procedure for Wiggenweld Potion states that we should stir the potion after adding Salamander blood till it turns turquoise and then heat it till it turns to indigo. After that, add more Salamander blood and so on then finally add boom berry juice and then stir it and then let it simmer for 30 minutes and then cool it. Due to this procedure, we will get only 3 vials of potion after almost 45 minutes of brewing"

Seeing Snape nod, Harry continued "So, instead of stirring the cauldron after adding Salamander blood till it turns indigo, we can stir it seven times in clock-wise direction, then wave our wand over the cauldron incanting ' _evenire_ ' and then add more Salamander blood and stir it anti-clock wise three times. After that, we should add 8 lionfish spines and stir it thirteen times in clock-wise direction and then add flobberworm mucus till it turns orange. Then we should add Honey water and again wave our wand incanting ' _evenire'_ till it turns turquoise and then add boom berry juice and stir it seven times in anti-clockwise direction and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes"

"By following this procedure, we save at least 15 minutes of time and also get around 5 vials of potion. By stirring specific number of times in clock-wise and anti-clock wise directions, the magical properties of the ingredients used during brewing come out more quickly. The incantation ' _evenire'_ also helps the cause though; the flow of magic during the incantation should be even through out the process of brewing. And it is also mentioned that the potion brewed using this procedure is more potent than normal one, although, I haven't had time to verify my last statement"

"I can assure you Mr Potter, that your last statement is true and also I applaud for brewing a potion using quite an advanced procedure. It seems there is more of Lily in you than just your eyes" Harry beamed at the potions professor on hearing it. After all, it is not every day that one gets praised by the resident dungeon bat and on top of that getting compared to his mother.

"Thank you, professor" replied Harry cheerfully.

Snape stood silently for a few moments, seemingly mulling about something and finally said "Also Mr Potter, seeing as you can manage some advanced brewing techniques and have some talent for potion making, if you want, I can teach you more about potions which you will not be taught in school or will find in any of the books in this country"

Harry's face lit up on hearing Snape's offer and nodded his head vigorously and enthusiastically said "Of course, professor. It would be my honor to learn from the youngest potions master in the century"

Snape showed a flicker of surprise that Harry knew about him but said in an even voice "If you say so. But we cannot have everyone thinking that I am giving you any special treatment. So, if you want to continue getting extra classes, then you will tell all your friends and house-mates that you messed up your brewing today and that I gave you detention for the rest of your school year. I will also do the same"

Harry, without even sparing a second thought on the matter, said "Sure professor. I'm sure it will be worth learning personally from you"

"Right. Then I will send you a note on when your detention will be. Now carry on with your work" he said and went back to grading his papers and left Harry to his machinations. Two hours into the detention, Harry finally finished the brewing of Wiggenweld potion and healing salve. Snape inspected each and every vial and box and gave them his stamp of approval.

Harry collected his belongings and just before reaching out to the door, he completely turned around and said "Uh….Professor?"

Snape raised his head from the book he is reading and asked "What is it, Mr Potter?"

"Umm….I just wanted to say Sorry, Professor" squeaked Harry.

"Your skills in brewing this evening had more than made up for the incident occurred during today's class, Mr Potter" replied Snape in an even tone.

Harry shook his head negatively and said "No..no professor. You misunderstood me. My apology is not for what happened today"

Snape raised his right eyebrow at Harry and said "Then what are you apologising for?"

Harry squirmed under Snape's scrutinizing gaze and his hands squeezed the edges of his robes but finally let out in a low voice "I….I wanted to apologize for what my father and his friends did to you during your school days here at Hogwarts"

The temperature in the room suddenly dropped by several degrees and Snape finally said in a voice so cold, it sent a shiver down Harry's spine "And pray tell me, why I should accept your apology on behalf of your arrogant father and his equally arrogant and idiotic friends?"

Harry bristled at the insinuation at his father and hotly replied "My father may have been arrogant during his earlier days of his school, but he changed during the later days. And I know for a fact that you are not that innocent, since you yourself started several of the confrontations with my father and his friends"

Snape growled on hearing this but Harry, not giving Snape a chance to interrupt, quickly continued "But I want you to forgive them for two reasons. First one, my father himself wanted to apologize to you at the first chance he got after the war ended but before he could do that he died and I would like to point out that there is no point in holding a grudge against a dead man. The second reason is that my mother also wanted you to forgive my father and his friends. She also mentioned in her journal that she forgives you…for the altercation happened between the two of you in your fifth year"

Snape sat silently for several minutes, contemplating on what he just heard and finally he slowly drawled "I see. You gave me a lot to think about Mr Potter. Is there anything else?"

Harry seemed hesitant for a moment but anyway said "I also want you to….i mean, only if you want to, then you can call me Hadrian or Harry when we are alone or in informal situations"

Snape seemed a bit stunned at that and said nothing, but gave a small nod. Harry nodded in return and opened the door and is about to step outside when Snape called out "Mr Potter…Hadrian. It looks like you missed you dinner"

Harry turned to his professor with a confused face on what the professor is going to say. Snape continued "Just because you missed your dinner does not mean that you can go down the Hufflepuff basement whose entrance is behind the statue present beside the Hufflepuff common room entrance and then tickle the pear in the painting of bowl of fruits and gain entrance to kitchens of Hogwarts". After finishing what he wanted to say, Snape gave Harry a tiniest of smirk which Harry returned and then he said "I will be here in my room for the next hour or so and if I find that you are not inside the Slytherin common room by the time curfew starts, the consequences will be severe"

Harry nodded gratefully to his professor, understanding the underlying message and immediately bolted toward the location of kitchens. He went down the Hufflepuff basement and reached the brightly lit corridor, which is decorated with food-themed paintings and stood before the painting of bowl of fruits.

For a second, Harry thought if this is some kind of an elaborate prank by his potions professor to get back at what his father did to him but immediately dismissed the thought and reached out his hand and tickled the painting of pear fruit. Then the weirdest thing happened. As soon as Harry tickled the pear fruit, it giggled and slowly turned to a door knob. Turning the door knob, he entered a massive room. The room is massive with ceiling easily as high as great hall. Number of glittering brass pots and pans are heaped around the stone walls. There are also four long tables in the middle of the hall, identical to the dining tables in the great hall. The other end of the hall is occupied by an enormous brick fire-place. Several tiny house-elves were working on the pans or mixing flour or doing plates and dishes.

As soon as Harry entered the kitchens, all the house-elves abruptly stopped their work and turned to look at him. Harry felt a bit creeped out a little as so many heads turning towards him and so many eyes eyeing him.

Before Harry could take a step forward, a house-elf wearing a tea cloth as apron with Hogwarts symbol on it, covered with flour here and there popped in front him and said "Plumy be greeting you, young master. How can the Hogwarts house elfs be helping you?"

Overwhelmed by the sudden attention he is getting, struggled for a few moments for words and then looked down at the expectant face of the house-elf in front of him, he said "Um…..I missed my dinner. Could you possible give me something to eat?"

Plumy took hold of Harry's hand with both of its tiny hands and dragged him to one of the empty dining table and sat him down and said "Plumy be bringing young master everything he needs for dinner" and popped away. Harry slumped into him and thought what he had gotten himself into.

No less than five seconds later, Plumy popped back with a large assortment of dishes and freshly baked bread and various fruits. His dinner menu consisted of fried rice with roasted chicken and marinated leg of lamb with butter bean and vegetable stew and jelly& ice-cream and chocolate sponge cake as desserts.

By the time Harry finished his dinner in Hogwarts kitchens, he felt like he gained a few pounds that evening and made his way to his common room.

* * *

 **Now there's your chapter. That's it for now. I request all the readers to please read and leave me a review or a PM. Your suggestions make a world of difference to me. Thank you all**


	10. New Lessons

**Harry Potter and Beginning of the Future**

 **Characters belonging to Harry Potter book series are sole property of JK Rowling. Other character appearances are purely fictional.**

 **Here's another chapter. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: New Lessons**

 **Hogwarts:**

Harry, Blaise, Tracey and Daphne made their way to the Quidditch grounds for their first ever official flying lessons with Hufflepuff. "This is going to be absolutely wicked" gushed out Harry as they made their way out of the castle to the grounds.

"Right" Daphne drawled in a sarcastic tone "because making a fool of myself on broom in front of Malfoy is just what I need to cheer up my day".

Harry cast a curious look at Daphne and said "How can you be so sure of that Daphne?"

"I've flown the broom before, Potter. And trust me when I say that a four year old kid can fly better than me". Harry looked like he wanted to say something but Blaise beat him to it and said "As much as I like to entertain myself by listening to you bickering like an old couple, we need to hurry up or dare miss flying for the rest of the school year"

"I can live with that" Daphne muttered to herself. Tracey snickered but choose to stay silent up on seeing the threatening glare on Daphne's face.

By the time Harry and his friends reached the ground there were already some students. The Slytherins stood on one side of the ground while the Hufflepuff students stood at a distance, sometimes shooting nervous glances at the Slytherin group.

Harry and his friends made their way to the Slytherins only to hear Draco Malfoy boasting loudly about his flying skills to anyone who would listen. Tired of the blonde ponce's strutting, Harry turned to the Hufflepuff group and caught sight of red haired girl who he recognized as the Heiress of the Most Ancient and Noble house of Bones and made his way to her.

As Harry made his way to the girl, the Hufflepuffs stopped their chattering and focused on him, giving him questioning looks. Ignoring their looks, he reached the Bones Heiress and said "Good Morning Heiress Bones. My name is Hadrian James Potter, heir to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter. A pleasure to meet you"

Susan maybe a timid Hufflepuff girl but her aunt made sure she knew how to respond to such formal greetings. In fact, her aunt drilled it into her head so that she doesn't tarnish the reputation of their family name. Her training immediately kicked in and Susan immediately said "The pleasure is mine Heir Potter. May I enquire as to why you are here?" In an after-thought, Susan immediately added "No offence Heir Potter. But in my experience, Slytherins tend to stick to themselves and you are here"

"Oh, none taken Heiress Bones. And please call me Hadrian. This formal greeting stuff is beginning to grate on my nerves" replied Harry

Susan giggled and said "Then you must call me Susan or Sue. All my friends call me that"

Harry flashed at charming smile at Susan making her flush a bit. "Thank you Susan. And you are right about most Slytherins sticking to themselves. But I'm not most Slytherins. I want to make as many friends as I can, if possible in all four houses and what better place to start making friends than the house of loyalty and hard work?"

"And her being the Heiress to a Most Ancient and Noble house and her aunt being the head of DMLE helps along, doesn't it" intervened a new voice. Harry found a dirty blonde haired girl with brown eyes to be the owner of the new voice. "Yes, that helps too, I guess. I believe we haven't met before. Hadrian James Potter, Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter, at your service" he said with an exaggerated bow. "May I know the name of the beautiful lady before me?" he asked in the same charming voice.

Hannah flushed a bit at the sudden focus of attention on her but stammered out "H-hannah Abbott of the Ancient house of Abbott"

Harry took the hand of the blonde girl and pressed his lips to her knuckles lightly and said "Pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Abbott. I believe that we could be great friends in the future"

"Now what do we have here. A charmer of young ladies hearts, eh? Be careful around him ladies. For, he can cause you severe heart breaks if you are not careful" came an amused voice from behind their back. Harry turned in the direction of voice, only to find their flying instructor standing in the entrance way to the grounds.

Susan and Hannah giggled and Harry looked a little flushed from the comment. Soon after that the rest of the class huddled closer to Madam Hooch to listen to her instructions.

Students piled in to two groups of Slytherin and Hufflepuff. The rest of the lesson went up reasonably well. The broom shot up into Harry's hand the moment he'd given the command to it 'up'. Looking around, he noticed that most of the students gotten their brooms in their hand, though Daphne looked like she had a live snake in her hand rather than a broom.

"Alright" Madam Hooch called out. "Mount up! Right leg over the broom and grasp the handle firmly"

Madam Hooch surveyed the students. "Mr Macmillan, loosen your grip a bit and lean little back. It'll be easier to control"

"Mr Crabbe, stop eating the twigs of your broom or else I will ground you from flying for the rest of your Hogwarts stay"

"Mr Malfoy, your grip is all wrong. Your hands should be little flexible to manoeuvre the broom in your desired direction smoothly"

"What? I've been doing this way for years" exclaimed Malfoy

"Well, you've been doing it wrong for years then"

A few of the students sniggered at Malfoy's failed attempt to make Madam Hooch accept his way of gripping the broom, only to end up losing Slytherin points and her threatening to ground him from flying for the rest of his school life if he didn't correct his grip.

"Alright" she called out, blowing a whistle to get the students attention back to her. "When I blow whistle, you are to push off gently, rise up for about five feet, hover for few moments and then settle back on the ground. Ready? One….Two….Three…."

All the students did as instructed and landed after hovering in the air for a few minutes. "Alright everyone. That is a good first flight, all of you. Now I want you to do some manoeuvres. Nothing complicated. Just do a little loop around me starting at ten feet from the ground and rise gradually to twenty feet. If anyone feels giddy or sick, you can stay back. Can you all do that?"

All the students eagerly nodded and pushed off the ground and started to do a full loop around Madam Hooch and then settled back on the ground. "Good flying everyone. Now you can relax a bit or you can fly but I do not want to see any feints or stunts or I will make sure you are grounded from flying before you can even say 'Quidditch'".

Harry, Blaise, Tracey and after a lot of coaxing, Daphne, took off for a simple flight and they were joined by Susan and Hannah after a few rounds. They flew for a time, circling and criss-crossing the grounds about a good twenty feet from the ground and were having a good time until they were interrupted by Malfoy and his ilk.

"So Potter, been surrounding yourself with half-bloods and blood-traitors. Add mud-bloods and your group will be the epitome of shame for the noble house of Slytherin" sneered Draco. Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and a reluctant Theodore Nott followed Draco's lead and nodded their heads and sneered at him.

"Sod off, Malfoy. I'm not in the mood to entertain you. So kindly piss off before I knock you off your broom" snapped Harry.

"Oh, so now the pot-head thinks he is a big-shot and can show up on his betters? You know what? I think we should teach you a lesson. What do you say boys" and without warning rushed toward Harry. Harry simply maneuvered to his right and spun his broom one eighty degrees to face Malfoy and suddenly leaned forward, powering the broom towards a nervous Draco, who pulled up sharply, just barely rising enough to dodge Harry.

Harry thought he heard a shriek in the background but simply ignored it and focussed fully on Malfoy. From the corner of his eye, he caught Blaise and Crabbe bumping each other's shoulders. Nott looked nervous and Tracey hovered above him to keep an eye on him. Daphne and Pansy are eyeing each other, though Daphne looked a bit nervous but kept her ice-queen mask firmly in place. He noticed Susan staying just beside Daphne and Hannah flying towards ground, most probably to warn Madam Hooch. Just as he turned his attention back on a grinning Draco, he heard a very familiar shriek. He turned to see Daphne zooming towards him, probably lost her control of broom.

Harry took a sharp left to avoid her. She zoomed past Harry and directly towards the castle walls. Without thinking, Harry shot after her just as she dashed against the wall. In her state of fear, Daphne gripped the broom so tightly that even after colliding with the castle wall, she did not release her grip on broom and shot straight towards the ground.

Harry went after her and fifteen feet from the ground, he came level to her and tried to get a hold of her and shift her to his broom. But Daphne, in her panicked state closed her eyes firmly and refused to listen to anyone. Seeing no other option, Harry caught hold of her broom and in a pure lucky manoeuvre, he left his broom and leapt onto hers and took control of the broom. Harry tried to pull up but the distance between them and the ground is rapidly decreasing. He could sense the broom slowing down but he doubted that will be sufficient. He could feel the broom reach its limits and started vibrating violently. So in a last ditch of things, with one hand he pulled up the broom as hard as he can, and with other hand he gripped tightly around Daphne's waist and turned the broom one eighty degrees so that if they fall, Harry's back will impact the ground first and Daphne will cushion her fall by landing on Harry.

Harry understood that crashing on to the ground to be inevitable and took solace in at least saving Daphne and resigned for his fate. Just as they closed five feet from the ground, a black blur shot towards them horizontally and took hold of the two first years by the scurf of their robes and tackled them to the ground. They rolled for a good five feet before coming to a stop with Madam Hooch sprawled on the ground and Harry and Daphne firmly placed on her chest and her arms protectively placed on their shoulders, therefore minimizing any damage they would have gained from the fall.

 **Hospital Wing:**

"Never seen anything like it in all my years of service in this school! What were you thinking Mr Potter, diving after Ms Greengrass in the way you did?" Madam Hooch was ranting, arms flailing wildly in exasperation. She was pacing back and forth in front of Harry's bed in Hospital Wing. The said person is sitting on the bed while Madam Pomfrey is running a diagnostic test to check if anything has escaped her notice. Daphne clung to Harry's hand, while still trembling from the shock of the fall.

"You wished to see me, Rolanda?" Snape drawled from behind a ranting Madam Hooch along with a seventh year Slytherin in tow.

"Professor Snape, Mr Flint. You are here. Good. I've heard that you are looking for a seeker for your Quidditch team. Am I correct?"

"We are not actively looking for a seeker since we already have one. But his snitch catching skills are nothing to be desired for. Do you have anyone in mind, Madam Hooch?" asked the Quidditch captain.

"Of course", Hooch exclaimed and pointed to Harry. "I believe Mr Potter here has a remarkable skill of flying with a broom. I saw it with my own eyes. He dashed after Ms Greengrass and then went into a vertical corkscrew dive from around thirty feet above ground and then jumped onto Mrs Greengrass's broom in the middle of a vertical corkscrew and then turned the broom to a hundred and eighty degrees and performed a sloth grip roll with Ms Greengrass firmly in his hand. And he did all this without battling an eye"

Flint listened to her with rapt attention. It has been fifteen years since Slytherin last won the Hogwarts Quidditch cup and if they want to have any chance at holding the cup this year, a new seeker is definitely needed. "He's got the build for it. He's medium height and lean and if what you said is true, then we could definitely take him on to the team. But there's one problem. Quidditch trails are already finished and if we take him in now, then it may disrupt our team dynamics"

"Madam Pomfrey, when will Mr Potter be discharged?" questioned Snape

"Other than some minor scrapes, Mr Potter and Ms Greengrass do not have anything to be concerned with. Thanks to Rolanda here, they survived with nothing more than few scratches. I believe then can leave right now, if they want. I will give a calming draught to Ms Greengrass to soothe her anxiety" replied the medi-witch.

Snape nodded to Pomfrey and then turned to Flint and said "We still have three weeks for the Quidditch season to start. Tomorrow you can test Mr Potter's skills on broom and if he is acceptable, then I will speak to Professor Dumbledore about relaxing the rule regarding first years playing Quidditch"

Harry for the most part tuned out what his head of house and the Quidditch captain are talking about other than his supposed flying test tomorrow and instead asked the girl beside him "Are you feeling okay, Daphne"

"I'll live, Harry" she said and looked at him with her blue eyes. But this time, instead of her usual coldness, they were filled with a mixed emotion. Fear, Happiness..? Then she once again pulled his hand closer to her and whispered "I've never been so scared before. Not even during that zoo fiasco. Not even when my brother….."

She immediately cut-off whatever she was saying and immediately left his hand, her ice queen mask firmly held in place. She then stood from the bed and turned to Harry and said "Thank you for saving my life, Heir Potter. House Greengrass acknowledges its debt to House Potter. I will write a letter to Lord Greengrass regarding the debt and will ask him to arrange a meeting with you to settle the terms of the debt. Good night".

Harry blinked owlishly at the sudden turn of events and looked to Tracey for explanations. She simply mouthed 'later' and then went after Daphne. Blaise simply shrugged his shoulders and said 'girls'.

* * *

"He's coming. Be silent and just follow my lead" said a whispered voice from behind a gargoyle statue.

Harry trudged down the corridors leading to the Slytherin common rooms. After exiting the Hospital Wing, Harry and Blaise separated as Blaise wanted to do his Charms homework and Harry went to kitchens to look for some snacks.

Just as Harry turned the corridor, a spell hit him and all of a sudden, he went rigid. His arms struck by his side and his entire body became stiff. Slowly Malfoy and his two over-weight body guards came into view and Harry cursed himself for not being cautions enough.

"Thought you can show up on me and get away with it, Potter?" Draco kicked Harry in his mid-section and ordered his two buffoons to hold him straight and punched his in the face and then punched him in the stomach.

"This ought to teach you a lesson about disrespecting your betters, you filthy half-blood" and punched him again in his ribs. "I will be expecting your apology by tonight. I will wait for you in our common room. Don't make me wait, Potter" With that they left Harry in a partially petrified state and locked him in a broom cupboard.

Harry was filled with rage, not because of the beating he took. No. He suffered worse at the hands of the Dursleys and his training sessions with his uncle were not exactly all sunshine and daises. Harry felt rage fill him because he let someone like Malfoy blindside him. He should have stayed vigilant of his surroundings and now because of his lax attitude, he suffering the consequences. He stayed locked in that broom closet for what he thought to be at least two hours when he heard some voices outside.

"I believe he is in there, brother mine" said one voice

"Are you sure, brother dearest? This broom closet looks to be locked from the outside" replied another voice

"Of course, brother mine. The map has never lied to us before"

"Well, in that case, we better open it. ' _Alohomora'_ "

Harry squinted his eyes a few times to adjust to the light. He observed it is dark outside. 'Probably missed the dinner' Harry thought to himself. Just then two red haired boys, probably twins entered in to the closet. By the looks of their school robes, they looked to be Gryffindors which made Harry groan internally, just what he needed on top of everything to end his day, a petty house rivalry. And the worst part is that, he cannot even defend himself.

"What do we have here, brother dearest. A slimy snake, petrified by a spell and left behind in a broom closet" replied one of the twins.

The other twin came a little closer to take a look at Harry's face and then exclaimed "And it is Hadrian Potter, the-boy-who-lived no less. Oh how the Wizarding public will be scandalized if this got out"

The other twin scratched his chin. "What do we do with you, slimy snake? Do we revive you or do we leave you behind for Filch to find you?"

"Come on, brother dearest. We cannot obviously leave the Wizarding world saviour, the-boy-who-lived, petrified in a closed cupboard"

"Huh…you raise a good point, brother mine. So, we should rescue him from this deplorable place for his services to the Wizarding world"

"Of course, brother dearest. Do you want to do the honors?"

"Sure, brother mine. _'Finite'_ "

Harry felt the stiffened limbs coming back to life. He craned his neck which became stiff from staying in the same position for a long time. He flexed his hands and legs, working out the kinks from them. Harry then turned to the twins and said "Thank you for helping me. It was wrong of me to jump to conclusions when I saw you house robes and for that I apologize. May I know your names?"

"Lookie here, brother mine. A slimy snake who apologize for something he thought in his mind. Will the wonders never seize?" exclaimed the first twin

"Indeed, brother dearest. Don't worry about that, oh great saviour of the world. We don't much care about house rivalry. And this is Fred" said the second twin, pointing to the other one

"And this is George" replied the other twin, pointing to the first one.

"And we are the infamous Weasley twins" both said in unison.

"Wait a minute. I thought I was George and you are Fred" said the second twin

"No Fred. Today is Saturday. So today I am George and you are Fred. Or is it the other way around?" replied the first twin, rubbing his chin

The second twin shrugged non-committedly. "Beats me. Since we do not know our names, maybe today I should be Gred and you should be Forge"

"Why do you get to be Gred? I want to be Gred today. You can be Forge"

"No. I get to be Gred because. . . . "

Harry stood there in the broom closet, looking at the twins bickering amongst themselves, no knowing to be irritated or feel amused by them. "Guys. . . . guys. . . as much as I would like to continue listening your bantering, I have a lesson to teach to a blonde ferret. I once again thank you for helping me. In the future, if you need any help, you can count on me"

"Oh lookie here, brother mine. The slimy snake is offering a helping hand to us"

"Yes, brother dearest" The second twin continued "Would you help us if we are going to pull a prank on Slytherins?"

"As long as it isn't anything lethal, I don't see why not. And just so you know, just like you, there are people in Slytherin house who don't care about house rivalries and I would appreciate it if you don't involve them in your pranks" replied Harry, as a matter of factly.

"Oh brother mine, looks like we found an honourable snake"

"Indeed, brother dearest. Do you think he is telling the truth?"

"He seems genuine to me, brother mine. He did apologise to us at the very beginning for what thought about us, didn't he"

"Right you are, brother dearest. Do you think we should do it?"

"I think we should, brother mine"

"We, Weasley twins, the resident pranksters, hereby swear on our honour of pranksters that we will not involve any honourable Slytherins in our pranks" said both the twins in unison.

Harry looked a little floored by the sudden oath from the twins but immediately recovered. "I appreciate it, even thought, it was not needed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a blonde ferret to skin alive. Good night". The twins said their goodbye and Harry left for the Slytherin common room with a single agenda on his mind involving a certain blonde ponce and his two over-weight gorillas.

* * *

"Did you find him? I just checked the kitchens and the house elves said that he left almost three hours ago and I couldn't find him anywhere else. Did you have any luck?"

"No. I checked the library. Madam Pince said that she did not see Hadrian in library the whole day. Curfew is approaching and he is nowhere to be seen. I'm worried about him, Blaise" replied a concerned Tracey.

"Don't worry about him, Tracey. He is not a small kid. Probably gone seeking more fame like he always does" interjected Daphne in a clipped tone.

Tracey whirled around to Daphne, her eyes filled with fury. "How can you say that, Daphne? He saved your life today. Shouldn't you be even a little grateful for that?"

Daphne just huffed and turned other side. Just then Draco along with his cohorts and a few older years entered the room and strode towards the fireplace. Draco cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. "Listen here Slytherins. From today on, I will be taking the leadership of first, second and third years. From here on, you will listen to me. Anyone who disobeys me will be shown their place. The Slytherin house has fallen from grace from the last time my father was a student here. Filthy half-bloods and mudbloods are running all over the place and some of the pure bloods are consorting with them, disgracing our pureblood heritage. This will not be tolerated anymore"

Just as Draco finished his little speech, the statue to the entrance way opened and in strode a bloodied faced and livid looking Hadrian Potter. He strode towards the common room like a Basilisk moving towards its prey, silent and ruthless. Not observing the furious look on Harry's face, Draco smirked and said "Ah, Potter. You came. I told you not to keep me waiting, didn't i?"

Harry slowly made his way to the blonde haired first year, observing who is on his side. "I'm apologize for keeping you waiting you, Malfoy"

Draco's smirk increased on hearing Harry apology and thought to further humiliate him. "A simple apology is not sufficient for wasting my precious time, Potter. We will discuss your punishment later. Now I believe you have something to say"

Draco then turned to the rest of the students in the common room and said "I want no one to interrupt what is about to happen. Observe carefully what Potter is going to do and then I want you all to follow him next. Anyone who dares to interrupt will face the wrath of my father"

The entire common room stood silent at what just happened. Never in their life they thought that Hadrian Potter, the boy-who-lived, the one who defeated he-who-must-not-be-named at, the age of one, the one who stood up to the Albus Dumbledore, the so called leader of light for a simple misspell of his name, to apologize to a simple blonde ponce who rides on the cocktails of his father.

Blaise, Tracey and even Daphne temporarily forgot their masks and showed expressions of utmost surprise on their faces not knowing what just happened and what is going to happen. Harry moved to the centre of the common room to stand in front of Draco and took a deep breath. The entire Slytherin house became eerily silent and watched on what is going to happen.

' _ **CRACK'**_ (breaking of a nose)

' _ **POW'**_ (punch to ribs)

' _ **POW'**_ (punch to ribs)

' _ **CRACK'**_ (breaking of a hand)

' _ **TRRRKKKKKKKK'**_ (sound of cloth tearing)

' _ **OMPHFFF'**_ (punch to stomach)

' _ **THUD'**_ (body falling to floor)

' _ **OMPHFFFF'**_ (kick to stomach)

These are the sounds heard throughout the Slytherin common room after one Draco Malfoy said not to interfere between him and Hadrian Potter. Currently we find Harry staring down at the downed body of Draco Malfoy with his right foot on the downed boy's chest. The murderous expression on Harry's face would have scared even the most hardened criminals. So it is no surprise that we find Draco wetting himself from fear.

"You thought that attacking me when my back is turned is going to make me fear you? You thought that a few punches with you lady hands will be enough to bend me to your will? You thought that petrifying and locking me up in a broom closet is going to make me fear you? Well, you know what Malfoy, you are sorely mistaken. I suffered worse in my life than anything your puny pureblood brain can possible imagine. I've had worse, worse than your father had when he failed any task given to him by the snake-faced Dark Lord. This is my final warning to you, Draco Lucius Malfoy, heir to the Ancient house of Malfoy. Leave me and my friends alone and do not antagonise me. Or you will regret the day you were born". He then turned to the blonde ponce's body-guards and said "The same warning applies to you both. Try anything against me or my friends and you will have first-hand experience of my wrath. Now, take him to Madam Pomfrey"

Both of them scurried to Malfoy's side and placing hands under his shoulder, they lifted him off-ground and took him to Hospital Wing. As they went outside the common room, Snape strode in, in his usual fashion of billowing cloak. "Mr Potter! What have you done this time?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow at Snape wondering how he got here so quickly. "Nothing out of our house rules, professor. I just settled a dispute with my fellow Slytherin inside the Slytherin walls, outside from the prying eyes of other houses. That was one of our house rules, isn't it? Present a united front outside the common room and beat the shit out of each other inside the common room"

Snape pursued his lips in to a thin line on hearing this. "Be that as may be, Mr Potter. Headmaster Dumbledore wishes to speak to you on your behaviour this evening. Right now"

"Very well, professor. I will just freshen up and change my clothes and meet you in ten minutes. Then you can take me to our ' _esteemed'_ Headmaster". Snape nodded his consent.

* * *

"You wished to see me, Headmaster?" Harry asked not bothering with any pleasantries. Snape just stood in a corner silently; ready to interject if Dumbledore tried to make any trouble for his potions protégée.

"Ah! Harry, my boy. Good evening to you" said Dumbledore in a jovial tone

"My name is Hadrian Potter, Headmaster. I already made it clear to you on the evening of our sorting ceremony". Harry knew what Dumbledore is trying to do. Undermine him by using a name he explicitly forbids anyone who he did not give permission to use but present a grandfather face on the outside.

"Ah forgive this old fool, my boy. I seem to forget things in now-a-days. It seems old age is catching up to me after all" Dumbledore chuckled at his own joke.

"Then maybe you should plan on your retirement soon, professor. Professor McGonagall may be your best option, seeing as she is the next most experienced person on our school staff"

All sings of jovial expression vanished from Dumbledore's face on hearing what Harry said. "We are straying away from the topic, Mr Potter. You've been called here to receive your punishment for your assault on Mr Malfoy. Do you have anything to say?"

"Besides from the fact that you did not bother to ask me for my account of the story? As a matter of fact, I do Headmaster. You see, Heir Malfoy attacked and paralysed me when I was walking towards Slytherin common room and locked me up in a broom closet for close to three hours and then he expected me to bow down to him and accept his punishment to me for 'making him wait', where he is the who locked me up in the first place. Without my rescuers, whom I will not be naming, by the way, who knows how much longer I would have been struck in that broom-closet for god knows how long"

Dumbledore merely dismissed Harry's words "I'm sure you are exaggerating Mr Potter. For your transgression against Mr Malfoy, you will be serving detention with Mr Filch for the rest of the term and you will not be allowed to fly on broom for the rest of school year"

Harry was livid on hearing Dumbledore's words. How dare the old man dismiss his words without even enquiring what really happened. "I will not be attending any detentions, Headmaster. As for the flying, I will be attending the rest of the flying lessons as usual. I refuse to accept punishment for something not of my fault"

Dumbledore face hardened and said "You see here, Mr Potter. You will accept your punishments and will attend detentions or else I will….."

"Or else you will what? Expel me? Because I dare you do that Headmaster. Because if you do that, I will make sure to drag you in front of the Wizengamot and Board of Governors. Wizengamot because how you ignored a complaint of assault from the heir of a Most Ancient and Noble house and Board of Governors because how you did not want to hear my side of the story. And also how you summoned me to your office to hand me punishment within five minutes of the incident while you did not respond to me being locked in a broom closet for nearly three hours"

Dumbledore started to say something but Harry beat him to it and continued "And before you say how you did not know anything about me being locked up, I know how the portraits in the castle report to you about any happenings in the castle. And there is a portrait of a knight there in the corridor where Draco locked me up in the broom closet. So, I dare you Headmaster. Dare you to expel me"

Dumbledore looked murderous on hearing the defying words of an eleven year old against him. He knew what Harry said to be true. While he could get away from the Board of governors and Wizengamot relatively unscathed, the resources and favours he would have to use would not be worth the cause and if he expelled him, he could not mould Harry in to the way he needed. So, Dumbledore just put his best 'I'm disappointed in you' look and said "You know Harry, if your parents are here to hear you talk, they would have been vastly disappointed in you"

Harry felt utterly enraged on hearing about the headmaster's remark about his parents but he knew that the old fool is trying to goad him in to doing something the he could use against him later. So he coolly replied "Maybe they will, maybe they won't. We won't know now. Do we, Headmaster? And maybe you forgot, they died under a _'fidelious charm'_ cast by you, Headmaster. So, I'm sure that if they are here right now, they will have matters other than me to be disappointed at"

Dumbledore looked absolutely stricken by the Harry's words. Whatever he was expecting to hear as a reply, that was not it. Therefore, before he lost anymore face in front of the eleven year old, Dumbledore quickly amended "We will be discussing about your punishments at a later time, Mr Potter. Till then you can attend your classes as usual"

"I knew you would see it my way, Head Master. If that is all, Good Night" said Harry and made his way outside the headmaster's office when he heard "I'm afraid that you are straying towards the dark, my boy"

Harry just replied over his shoulder "I was never in the light to begin with, Headmaster" and left the room, with professor Snape following him.

As they stepped down the Gargoyle, Snape turned to Harry and said "You handled that beautifully, Harry. I thought you would lose your temper in the middle when he mentioned your parents. But you turned tables on him most excellently. Even I would have had trouble with that"

Harry preened under the rain of compliments from his potions professor. "Thank you, professor. And I almost did lose my temper there but managed to rein it in at the last possible moment. It is all thanks to the training uncle Raj and the portrait of my grandfather gave me"

"Yes, yes, that is all well and good. But 10 points from Slytherin for assaulting a fellow Slytherin" said Snape before continuing "10 points for promoting inter-house unity and 20 points to Slytherin for saving the students of other house and another 20 points for exterminating the ferret infestation in our house"

A frown marred Harry's face on hearing Snape taking points for the beating he gave Draco but it soon turned in to a full blown laugh on hearing Snape award him points for ferret extermination.

"But you will be serving detentions with me on every Monday, for your transgressions" Snape added the last part in an afterthought.

Both Snape and Harry shared a smile. "But of course I have to be punished. I will be there for the detention, professor"

 **Knockturn Alley:**

Jonathan Burke, grandson of Caractacus Burke is a miserable man. During the last Wizarding War, his father, being the coward he is, took his family from Magical Britain and went into hiding. After the Dark Lord has mysteriously disappeared, they came back to their homeland, only to find that their shop had been taken over by Hepidias Borgin, co-owner of Borgin and Burkes.

His father tried to fight it over but since they fled from the war, no one wanted to help them. Finally, his father made a deal with Hepidias. They would sell thirty of the fifty percent of Burke's family share in Borgin and Burkes and in exchange, a job will always be open for one family member of Burke's family and for good or worse, Jonathan has been apprenticed to Hepidias Borgin.

His master is currently in the backyard doing god knows what and said that they will be visited by a customer and he is to take that customer to him. He is so deep in his musings that he did not observe someone entering their shop.

A clocked figure entered the most infamous antique shop in Knockturn alley. The shop is rather large, dusty and dimly lit with a fire place at one of the shop which is often frequented by some of the shady and dodgy characters of the Wizarding world in Britain.

He saw a man at the counter who looked to be around in his early twenties, who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts and strode straight to the counter and banged on the desk to alert him of his presence.

Jonathan jumped out of his chair from the sudden bang and shakily pointed his wand at the sudden intruder.

The cloaked figure barked out "You master is expecting me boy. Take me to him"

Jonathan flinched back at the man voice and nodded hastily before taking him to the back yard to his master.

"Master, the customer you are expecting has arrived" said Jonathan, putting out as much respect as he can for the cunning man in front of him.

A stooping man rose out from an iron trunk on hearing Jonathan's voice and snarled out "Get out of here, boy. Close the shop and have the rest of the day off"

Jonathan nodded his head hastily and scurried off to the front of the shop. A greasy haired man stepped out the iron trunk completely and stooped a little with both his hands in front of him and said in a voice dripping full of false "Good day, Sir. Do you want any refre…"

"Cut the chase Borgin. Did you or did you not get what I wanted?" snarled the cloaked man.

The man stopped once again and said "Straight to the business I see. Of course, of course. This way please". He led them to a room full of boxes and several items ranging from some iron jewellery to skeletal hands.

"Have a seat, Sir. I will bring the items you requested and then we will conclude our business" said Borgin gesturing to the chair in the middle of the room, in the same silky voice. The cloaked figure sat on the chair only to find himself bound by iron chains. The bound man struggled against the chains and snarled out "What is the meaning of this, Borgin? I will kill you when I get out of these chains"

The said man bowed his head low and strutted out "I'm terribly sorry for doing this to you, Sir. They threatened to lock me up in Azkaban if I didn't sell you out"

The cloaked man struggled even harder against the chains and bellowed out "When I get out of this, I will make you curse the day you were even born, Borgin"

Hepidias opened his mouth to say something but was cut-off by a red stunner to his back and collapsed on the floor in a heap. Two men wearing brown cloaks entered the room and dragged the unconscious Borgin out of the room and another man wearing a black hood came into the room and gently closed the door.

He strode toward the chained man and sat on a conjured a chair. "An obscurer cloak eh? A precaution most likely, so that no one can see your face or recognise your voice"

The chained man said nothing and so the other one continued "My men tried to locate your real identity but to no avail. We are the best in what we do in the realm and you managed to elope from us. That is saying something. So, let us see who you really are"

The cloak opened to reveal a black haired man with brown eyes, who looked to be in his mid-thirties. The black cloaked man barked out a laugh and said "Look who it is! Mr Raja Choudary, one of the emissaries to our realm. What a pleasant surprise"

Raj knew that the moment he saw the black cloaked figure taking a seat in front of him that he is busted. So he tried to buy some time and look for any window of opportunity. So he said "You do know that it is rude not to introduce yourself before getting into a conversation, don't you?"

"Don't flatter yourself Mr Choudary. It will only get you so far. But since we are going to be here for quite some time, I might as well introduce myself. My name is Crocker. But I bet you already know that, didn't you"

"Well, I can't say I know about you. Just a few bits and pieces about the infamous Director Crocker of the Department of Mysteries. So, Director, may I know why you have chained an emissary of the kingdom of Magical India without any reason?"

Crocker let out a soft chuckle and suddenly leaned forward and said in a hard voice "Cut the chase Mr Choudary. Did you really think that placing an order for the blue-prints of Azkaban in the underground black market will go un-noticed by us?"

 **A/U:** **There it is. I know this chapter is a bit shorter than my other chapters and I promise to lengthen my next chapters. As usual, please read and review.**

 **Also, please read my new story 'The King who Conquered' and give me your opinions on that story. Thank you all.**


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